The Kariasi Crusade
by TheAlagoano
Summary: The High Lords of Terra launched a Crusade to reconquer the Kariasi Sector before it could slip completely from Imperial control. Adeptus Astartes Chapters, Titan Legions and thousands of regiments from the Imperial Guard supported by the fleets of Segmentum Tempestus sailed forth to bring the light of the Immortal God Emperor back into the war sector. Gets better in the later cpts
1. There's no kill like overkill

**The Kariasi Crusade**

**-Rattemburg Fortress, Staging grounds for the Imperial Guard on the world of Arrant Secundus**

Major Jamil Verst tried shifted idly on her bed in one of the cramped and smelly rooms that passed out as officers' quarters in the old fortress that her regiment (the 465th Jahangir Mechanized Janissaries) and other three were gathered in preparation for the main attack against the rebel salient between the Imperial forces and the planetary capital. The original plan called for these regiments to be deployed against the Ork forces in the nearby Bahanesh System but the sudden rebellion of the planetary governor forced the Crusade's High Command to divert several regiments to stamp the rebellion.

Arrant Secundus on itself was an unremarkable agri-world with a few million inhabitants, what made it important enough to receive the attention of five regiments was its proximity to Arrant Prime, a Hive World and major supply nexus for the Crusading forces in the Kariasi Sector. It was left unsaid but everyone feared that the taint of Chaos was responsible for the rebellion and while official propaganda made no mention of it the fortress was buzzing with rumors about Inquisitors running amok in the countryside. Regardless of involvement from the Ruinous Powers or not the planet was still in open rebellion against the Imperium and that was enough reason for the Hammer of the Emperor to fall upon the overly confident and ambitious governor of this backwater. Still that possibility lingered on the back of Vert's mind.

With too much on her mind too sleep and that damn smell burning her nostrils the small major jumped off the bed and crossed the small room to the table covered with documents and data slates. With no chance of sleeping she could at least do something useful with her time like review the reconnaissance reports. But before she could concentrate someone shouted from the other side of the door:

"Ma'am, General Purgatchev is calling for a general briefing." Came the voice of Captain Samia of the fourth company, a big and bulky woman with short black hair, good for intimidating local officers and with numbers.

With an overly-dramatic sigh Jamil stood up once again and shouted back:

"Just a moment! You can go without me! There was no reply so she assumed that Samia had left.

After hitting the chair and bend with her knees and feet for a few times and cursing the small room for a few minutes Jamil finally reached out for her grey uniform shirt decorated with golden buttons (that weren't really made of gold) and a silver number one on the left breast pocket that marked Jamil as commander of the 1st Company. The officer's cap and a laspistol because you can never be too sure...

**-Twenty minutes later, Main Briefing room of Rattemberg**

Colonel Arban of the 29th Hattian fought back the urge to roll his eyes and laugh at the assorted collection of officers gathered in the briefing room, women from the so-called "Jahangir Mechanized Janissaries", hairy barbarians and shaved criminals from the 15th Valdivian and the vicious gangers from from the 61th Haradian, none of them real soldiers in the mind of the Colonel Arban, cannon fodder at the best and at worst a liability to his men, the proud soldiers of Hatti, they were true soldiers and devout servants of the God-Emperor and the best armored regiment in the whole Crusade, a proud boast but true, sadly he could only show his superiority against the pathetic rebel PDF that this backwater had managed to muster, a mere speed bump before his disciplined tank crews.

Arban's attention was caught by the arrival of an officer from the "Janissaries", another girl playing soldier, worse, one could expect that in an all-female regiment the uniforms would at least be elegant, but not even that. Seeing the general incompetence around him he would have feared for the fate of the campaign but right now the 98th Vostroyan was advancing alone to the second largest city in this miserable planet without any decent opposition, as far as he was concerned his men could take the planet alone easily. The supposed incompetence of his allies aside that officer, a major from what he could discern from the officer stripes in her uniform, wasn't that bad looking, maybe he could teach her a thing or two about inter-regiment cooperation and armored thrusts, preferably in a hot tub with aromatic candles.

His daydreams were interrupted when General Radom Purgatchev of the 98th Vostroyan finally arrived, flanked by a scarred Commissar with half of his face replaced by bionics and another Vostroyan officer in an equally pompous uniform, that and their fighting ability made Arban respect the Firstborns, not as equals of course as the Hattians had no equal in the Imperial Guard, but as a trusty allies.

General Purgatchev saluted the other officers as he walked to the podium in the center of the large room. Without a word he pressed a few runes in the podium and the central map shifted to show the advance of the 98th.

"My friends…"The general started to speak in a worried tone. "There has been a change of plans." He paused again, pressing more runes and changing the map to a hilly area. "My troops have found stiff resistance in the main road" He pressed more runes and icons flashed in the map. "My men have met the first organized resistance since we reached the planet and have been forced to stop in a fortified line manned by the traitors. And while the line can be broken with a determined push I do not wish to waste men on this backwater theater." The general paused yet again and Arban was getting annoyed with the man's inability to get to the point. "I have decided to transfer the 465th to the assault against Kathay City. Colonel Jugurtha, you and your girls are going to take an alternate route." He paused and pressed yet more buttons, Emperor how hard is to speak and press a few buttons at the same time? "Mapped by my personal advisor, captain Serbatchev, he will also be accompanying you to ensure success." But before the Janissary colonel could reply the Vostroyan commander turned to Arban. "That means that I'm sending your boys to support the attack on the capital, the rebel positions in the Southern plains can wait."

Spearheading the assault on the capital? That sounded good! The 29th Hattian armored regiment smashing through the enemy positions and bringing the rebel governor back in chains, another glorious victory for the Hattian guardsmen. But Arban's good mood disappeared as soon as he remembered that five companies from the barbarians and criminals from the 15th were already deployed cleaning the valleys that surrounded the capital city. The thought of working with these savages was displeasing to say the least...

Arban was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't noticed the major of the 15th Valdivian approaching him nor his own officers calling his attention to that. It was only when the major slapped him in the back saying something about looking forward to working together that dragged the colonel away from his daydreams with an undignified yelp. To his credit Arban regained his composure fairly quickly and shook the extended hand of the major. He was big, brown skinned with an unkempt pitch black hair and beard with a large scar across his forehead, he was saying something but between the accent and his ongoing analysis of the man Arban didn't heard anything, he just nodded and walked away followed by the other Hattian officers, he had a long night ahead planning the new operation and readying his troops.

* * *

And that's it, the first chapter, please review, tell me if I got any part of the fluff wrong, send suggestions and etc.

The original idea of the Kariasi Crusade is from Starseed of the Alternate History forums, original regiments were created using 1d4chan Regiment creation tables

Warhammer 40 000 belongs to Games Workshop


	2. The plot is further elaborated

**The Kariasi Crusade**

**-Rattemburg Fortress, Secondary Strategy room B-2**

Major Wodan surveyed the tactical map that occupied the center of the room, constantly updated by orbital and field reports. Yesterday, captain Isned's Third Company had finally overwhelmed the final defensive lines of the valleys surrounding Breintenfeld with acceptable losses, soon the other four companies would move to encircle the planetary capital and wait for the rest of the regiment and the Hattians to start the assault. Of course, to do that he needed to talk with the Hattian colonel and the pompous buffoon was already two hours late...

Just as Wodan was asking someone to look for the Hattians the colonel and his cronies arrived, somehow even more well dressed and arrogant than in the last general briefing. Surely with the intent of showing their superiority over the "savage rabble", every once in a while the 15th had to work with a particularly stuck up and arrogant regiment that took a special delight in showing off their perceived superiority. Nevertheless Wodan had to tolerate the colonel and his spoiled brats for the good of the campaign.

"Greetings colonel Arban, by the Throne, it's a honor to work with such respected regiment as the 15th Hattian." Wodan said in High Gothic, smiling and approaching the new arrivals to greet them.

"No need for pleasantries Major, let's plan this operation, I'm a busy man." Arban replied in Low Gothic waving dismissively in an disinterested tone.

"Ah! An objective man." Wodan replied laughing before gesturing to the tactical display."Follow me please

The Hattian officers waited for colonel Arban to nod towards the table to move, settling on the right side while the Valdivians stayed on the left one. Wodan coughed to get the attention of the officers and started:

"As you can see from this map we have passed through the last defensive lines of the enemy before the city itself, our scouts have already determined that the traitor PDF forces have deployed considerable forces on a series of three fortified lines surrounding the city."

"Are you sure about that? It would be more logical for them to deploy their forces in the city itself where the urban terrain would favor the defender." A Hattian officer interrupted.

"I'm sure and that means that either our enemy is deploying the bulk of his forces out of the city or he has much more men than we thought...and I doubt that they would risk getting their forces encircled on the outskirts of the city..."Wodan replied.

"The only way they could afford such increase in numbers is by conscripting the women, the elderly, the invalids and arming them with subpar weapons, a weak rabble that will break as soon as my tanks are in sight!"Arban announced triumphantly.

"So far our scouts have yet to find this 'rabble' that you speak of, colonel." Wodan replied but before he could continued Arban interrupted him.

"They're hiding in the city itself, clearly a ploy to make us hesitant and delay the attack on the city, I will not be fooled by these yokels!"Another Hattian officer joined the conversation.

Wodan sighed...this was going to be a long day...

* * *

**Kadari valley Command Post for the 15th**

Colonel Mikonas took his time to savor the military-grade rations in the dimly-lit command room of the hastily-repaired bunker taken from the rebels a few days before. Without a shadow of doubt he would soon be flooded by more reports from his scouts and probing units. He kept sending these small groups to check enemy positions and look for weak spots but so far the only thing they managed to do was to increase the casualty lists and occupy more beds in the field hospital. At the current rate he had no option but wait for the other three companies under the command of Major Wodan and the Valdivian tanks to try to achieve a breakthrough. But even if he managed to break the outer trench lines the Imperial Guard would still have to take the city and in the narrow streets that made up most of the city the Guard tanks would be almost useless. And now he realized that he had finished his ration and hadn't even any luck there would be better food in the victory celebrations.

Mikonas then heard the door opening but his aide was pale and more nervous than usual and accompanied by another soldier, the colonel was about to ask who the other soldier was,but he, a short and stocky man with balding hair and a thin mustache, pulled an Inquisitorial Seal from a pocket

_Frakk._ Was all that Mikonas had time to think before the Inquistor started to speak, in a cheery tone with a surprisingly friendly voice:

"Colonel Mikonas Cylades, congratulations, your regiment has been deemed worthy of serving the Holy Inquisition."

"And what do you need?"Mikonas managed to say after a few blurted attempts.

"I'm Inquisitor Hector Ranulph, Ordo Hereticus and I'm here to investigate if the heresy of this planetary governor was caused by reasons other than simple ambition." Ranulph then sat down and turned to the colonel's aide. "You can go now boy." As soon as he heard that the assistant bolted out of the room.

The Inquisitor snorted and said: "I told him that if word got out that an Inquisitor was here I would shoot him."Then he dropped the friendly facade, his face now with a serious expression and his voice much more stern."And I will colonel, the same goes to you."

Before the threat could sink in the friendly facade had returned and the Ranulph continued:

"I need to get inside the city and I can't do that with the city surrounded by rows of heretics and traitors. I need your regiment to open a hole in their lines and distract the enemy, then I can take a unit of your men along with my retinue through the sewers."

"But sir..."Mikonas replied, with all respect he could muster."The enemy defenses are strong, if I attacked now we would not be able to take the city without heavy casualties, and even then victory would not be you could wait a week I would receive substantial reinforcements and prepare"

"Time is essential colonel, The Emperor's Justice cannot be delayed because you're afraid of losing men. Half of which should be in a Penal Legion."The Inquisitor replied.

"You have to understand sir..."But the colonel was once again interrupted.

"No!You don't understand."The Inquisitor said rasing his voice and leaning towards Mikonas."I have a duty to our Immortal Lord and if my suspicions are right I must act fast or the whole Crusade could be disrupted. I will carry my duty and it's the duty of every loyal servant of the Emperor to help me." The Inquisitor stopped awfully close to Mikonas' face, his voice now almost a whisper: "So tell me colonel,are you a loyal servant of the Emperor?"

Mikonas just nodded, usually he would not tolerate being talked to like that but when dealing with the Inquisition things like personal pride have to be ignored.

"Good, I shall give you two days to prepare for the attack...draw your attack routes, man the captured guns do what you usually do...in the meantime I will study which men I shall request as escorts to complement my retinue."Ranulph replied smiling and sliding back in his chair. "Do you have any recaf around here anywhere?" He continued,looking around the room for a mug.

* * *

**Outskirts of Rattemberg Fortress**

The Armored column drove in a tight formation, Leman Russ tanks-half of the armored company- in the front and rearguard while Chimeras and other APCs surrounded the Basilisks of the artillery company. The last convoy of the Jahangir Mechanized Janissaries had departed, the whole regiment, over 25 000 guardswomen had been organized into 12 armored convoys that would then follow the "alternate routes" in groups of three companies while other three (including the artillery and the elite 1st Company) would reinforce the Vostroyans directly. A sound plan colonel Jugurtha had to admit but it would be better if she had any say in it. But no! The good General and his 'tactical advisor' had thought of everything! No need to worry about that. Well, at least they had found a subtle way to call her and her troops incompetent.

That wasn't new to her but the general could at least not send a smooth-talking bastard to babysit her regiment, the 'honored advisor' had flirted with every trooper and officer he had came across, and only strict orders kept them from beating the Firstborn officer to a pulp and causing another "diplomatic incident". But since the Vostroyan couldn't be sent back Colonel Jugurtha assigned him to Captain Shanti's fifth Company, hopefully the aggressive, square-jawed,broad shouldered and muscled woman would be enough to make the Firstborn cease with all his flirting.

But Jugurtha would be glad to take with her ten Vostroyans who thought of themselves as irresistible charmers if that meant more time to prepare, her regiment had barely a day to pack things up, study the maps and hit the road. "It's of vital importance that you march to support our units in Kathay City as soon as possible, the rebels are too focused on my boys and their backs are open to you." General Purgatchev had said in a briefing earlier that day.

Banishing idle thoughts the colonel grabbed the Vox to request reports from the other convoys.

A few minutes later the last commanders reported in, the first three convoys had reached the first checkpoint and were setting up camp, the regiment would enjoy five hours of rest and then continue in the early morning to the next checkpoint, where the continent's largest river met the sea, so far the scout platoons reported no enemy presence on the way but she didn't lived five years commanding a regiment by being careless...

* * *

And that's it, second chapter. Please review, leave your opinions, suggestions and speculations

Warhammer 40k is property of Games Workshop

Original idea of the Kariasi Crusade was from Starseed of the Alternate History Forums

Imperial Guard regiments created using 1d4chan creation tables.


	3. Still no major combat

**The Kariasi Crusade**

**-Rattemburg Fortress**

"..._Will be launched in two days, get here ASAP. Over."_

"I can't sir!It will take five days to get the reinforcements to the city and then we would need..." Major Wodan tried to argue but the colonel repeated his orders and cut the transmission, Wodan hit the table and then sighed in frustration, wondering what was happening with his commanding officer, the other officers of the 15th asked the same thing, colonel Mikonas wouldn't waste his men like that, specially against simple rebels. But all that was lost on colonel Arban who was literally red with rage, that frakking commoner of a colonel was trying to steal his glory, his moment of triumph!No honorable son of Hatti would stand that, he would run all the way to Breitenfeld on foot if needed but he wouldn't allow a band of convicts and savages to steal his victory. Turning to his assembled officers(who by the look on their faces were thinking roughly the same thing) with a determination that he hadn't felt since his early days in the Guard he said.

"Gilgamesh, tell the men that we shall march at noon, not a second later."He turned to another two captains without even waiting for a reply or acknowledgment and continued." Arabazor, Azangredb, get the supply vehicles loaded by the afternoon, do whatever it takes. The rest of you shall help" And with that he dismissed his officers and addressed Major Wodan:

"Major, get your men ready to march at noon or else you will travel alone."

The larger officer could only stare at him incredulously, it was another officer, a captain of his regiment that replied:

"Are you insane?Your fancy hat must be too tight on your head, we will never have all the companies ready in such short time."

"Then prepare to march with the ones that are ready, the rest can catch up later. Not that we will need them, once my men join the assault against Breitenfeld the traitor lines will collapse." Arban replied nonchalantly, and before the Valdivians could protest he added."Or we could wait and let your regiment assault the enemy capital alone." Seeing that he had managed to shut the annoying glory-stealing barbarians Arban allowed himself to smirk, maybe the situation was still salvageable...

* * *

**On the route to Cathay City**

Sargent Etteni maneuvered her Sentinel through the sparsely wooded area north of the main road, her squad of Sentinels had already scoured the main road looking for enemy soldiers, so far nothing but there were still other patrols en route, following her and double checking and then triple checking the route before the main bulk of the regiment passed through the road on their way to hit the back of the rebel PDF units holding Kathay City, Etteni doubted that a whole regiment would be able to march undetected all the way to the second biggest city in the planet, but then again if the Vostroyans were having trouble breaking through the PDF lines there was a chance that they had deployed all their reserves on the city and the immediate surroundings. Maybe they would have a smooth advance without any opposition. Then her Vox-caster buzzed

"Ma'am." It was Corporal Sadika, the pilot of a Heavy-flamer equipped Sentinel."My auspex is picking some signals in those hills near the northern edge of those woods...it looks like a small group, should we check it out?"

"Spread and surround ladies, be ready to open fire on sight." Etteni replied, maneuvering her sentinel to spread away from the other ten walkers who were doing the same, soon the squad assumed a crescent formation, moving forward at high speed. _"Why these things always have to get complicated?_" She thought idly, at least when she had fought the Orks on Tromshault four years ago they had the decency of charging directly into her guns.

"Ma'am, the targets are scattering." Another soldier informed.

"Then move faster!Don't let this traitor scum escape!" Etteni replied enthusiastically

Soon the hills were in sight and several shapes running away from the hills, carrying pieces of equipment.

"Open fire as soon as they get in range! DEATH TO THE ENEMIES OF THE EMPEROR!" Etteni yelled on the Vox-Caster as she aimed the Multi-laser on the nearest pair of fleeing soldiers, hitting one square in the back while the other was neutralized by a round o the leg, the others fell one by one, Sadika even managed to get close enough to toast a couple of them. Etteni was so enthralled by this small victory that she didn't noticed that not all traitors had packed and ran. Two of them had manage to stay concealed long enough to be surrounded by the sentinels, the pair had just enough time to fire a rocket at one of the Imperial vehicles before being cut down, but that single round was enough to kill sargent Etteni.

* * *

**Main convoy of the Jahangir Mechanized Janissaries.**

Colonel Jugurtha swallowed the steaming recaf in one swig, better that way considering the taste and quality of military-grade rations assigned to a minor campaign like the one on Arrant Secundus. If only it was a minor campaign...by the latest reports this could very well end in a Pyrrhic victory for the Imperium, a bunch of supposedly weak and under-equipped PDF regiments were holding the Vostroyan Firstborns at bay whike some thickheaded bastard commanding the siege of the capital decided that it was a good idea to attack before receiving reinforcements no doubt the colonel figured that he could push his men to break the rebel defenses alone, thus earning all the glory. There were too many officers like that in the Imperial Guard, too many deaths and battles lost because some stuck up commander wanted the prestige all for himself. Her musings were interrupted by Captain Serbatchev, the would-be womanizer sent by General Purgatchev to "ensure the success" of the operation. The old man didn't even bothered to find a subtle way to say that he didn't trusted her regiment.

"Colonel, we got an urgent transmission from the patrols." The Captain announced, tapping a few runes in the Vox-Caster and handing the horn to her

"This is Colonel Jugurtha, speak." She ordered

"It's Corporal Sadika ma'am, 3rd Scout Squad, we have located and engaged enemy forces on sector 56, a group of 9 soldiers with anti-armor equipment, Sargent Etteni was KIA ma'am."That was it, the enemy probably knew that the Janissaries were trying to move behind their backs, it was to be expected of course, General Purgatchev was a fool if he thought that the rebels wouldn't notice an entire Regiment trying to sneak on their second biggest city, but then again, losing only a single Sentinel for ten rebels could be considered a victory, even more if those troops were scouting for another larger force or preparing an ambush.

"Understood Corporal, resume your mission until further orders." Jugurtha ordered, waiting for the reply before handing the horn back to Serbatchev, she shifted in her seat when the Captain took the horn with a lecherous smile. Since the Vostroyan had arrived in her command vehicle she started to wish for a more adequate command vehicle than a modified Chimera transport, she was already expecting some cheesy one-liner or stupid flirt when another officer attending to other Vox-Caster called her attention:

"Ma'am, we've just received reports from the third convoy, their scouts have come under heavy attack from enemy forces 29 Kms from the last checkpoint, in sector 30 Ma'am."

"Sector 30? Frakk! That means that the Visburg forest is crawling with rebel troops, tell them to keep advancing, burn the forest if needed but do not stop the advance." The Colonel shouted back, the intelligence was faulty! She had been informed that the enemy forces had pulled back from the countryside and had gathered in the cities, but of course, things can never be that easy...there's always something that those bastards in the High Command let slip from the report or even otherwise omit to "ensure that the morale won't be harmed". If the state that things were escalating today was anything to go by there would be at least another rebel regiment waiting just across the hills in the plains...

_"Better not try my luck."_She thought, smiling grimly before Captain Serbatchev called her attention again to the Vox-Caster before tuning up the volume

"_chhhhh...-dika...chsssk...I repeat!Under attack! Mutants and Cultists in great numbers! Withdrawing immediately..."_And then the transmission went dead

Jugurtha tried to reestablish contact the connection to no avail. She then turned to her communications officer and ordered her to establish contact with General Purgatchev back in Rattemberg Fortress, after a few minutes she had yelled with enough uncooperative officers to be transferred directly to the General.

"What's the reason for this interruption Colonel? I was dealing with vital issues for the campaign." The General said trying to sound angrily but not managing to contain a yawn.

"Sorry Sir, but I've received confirmation that our forces are under attack from Chaos-aligned forces..." Jugurtha replied respectfully, despite the urge to snap at the General._  
_

The General said something that she could not understand-probably calling an aid-before replying:

"I will call an emergency briefing with my officers and warn the rest of the regiments, keep advancing until further orders."

Before she could reply the connection was cut and only then she allowed herself to let out a stream of curses and swears in every dialect that she knew. After regaining her composure she turned to yell at the Captain.

"So he just ordered us to keep marching!I can see why the man is a general!He's a frakking tactical genius!"

* * *

And that's it, the third chapter, please review, tell me if I got any part of the fluff wrong, send suggestions and etc.

The original idea of the Kariasi Crusade is from Starseed of the Alternate History forums, original regiments were created using 1d4chan Regiment creation tables

Warhammer 40 000 belongs to Games Workshop


	4. Finally some action

**Kariasi Crusade**

**Chapter 3**

* * *

**Outskirts of Breitenfeld. Imperial Guard Command Bunker**

Colonel Mikonas suppressed the urge to sigh in frustration as he received yet another casualty report from an aide, and by the looks of the servitors assembled in the other side of the room copying Vox transmissions and manning the cogtators there would be many more...things have went downhill since that blasted Inquisitor arrived, first the psychopath threatens him to waste his troops in a hasty attack just to distract the rebels, then before they can even finish the preparations reports arrived from all over the front that the PDF and cultists were launching counter-attacks, except at Breitenfeld, and then after an entire day hearing about how hordes of poorly armed civilians simply threw themselves at the Guard's guns in other sectors the heretics in Breitenfeld launched their own attack just as the Valdivians were preparing the assault, the Inquisitor insisted on not calling off the assault. This time however the cultists had already started showing the taint of Chaos through mutation, sprouting additional arms and eyes, scales, tentacles and more. It looked like the whole city had been charging their trenches for days, from young kids to elderly ladies, all maddened by the corruption of the Ruinous Powers, the constant fighting was taking its toll on his men. Fortunately the intensity of these attacks had lessened when the rest of the Regiment and Major Wodan together with Arban's Hattians arrived four days ago and eventually ceased altogether.

Mikonas wanted to use the respite to rest his forces and reorganize to prepare a more organized counter-attack but once again his was overruled by the Inquisitor and Colonel Arban, "Giving time for the heretics to rest and fortify?That's stupidity!" the Hattian commander had said with a frown. The Imperial assault had started at dawn of the last day and Mikonas noticed that it was nearing lunchtime but food would have to wait, again, because he was the highest-ranking Imperial Guard officer not currently engaged in the front and it was up to him to coordinate the effort to retake the city. With any luck some random mutant would wipe the smug smile from Arban's face, that would make his day. Or rather, that and not getting purged by the Inquisition once he had dealt with this mess.

* * *

**Eastern Wall of Breitenfeld**

Trooper Minuv yelled battle cry after battle cry as his squad charged straight to the one huge breaches in the wall made by the combined Imperial assault. Autogun and heavy bolter fire flew by his sides, blasting Trooper Zabal's head and splattering his remains on the Hattian Leman Russ advancing behind them who replied with a hail of bolter fire, later Minuv would wonder if the Hattians were more angered at the death of a fellow guardsmen or getting their prized tanks dirty, probably the latter. If he wasn't busy charging right into the enemy's guns Minuv would see thousands of other guardsmen followed by dozens of tanks along with hundreds of other laying on the ground either dead or dying.

As soon as he reached the hole where once stood the wall Minuv dived behind a pile of rubble, several others did the same and those who didn't were swiftly cut down. Muttering a litany he hesitantly raised his head to look over the enemy positions, luckily no trenches, just some hastily placed sandbags in the middle of the street to protect the autogun and the heavy bolter while two dozen or so PDF soldiers took cover in the buildings and the rubble, so far no sign of the crazed mutants. Minuv quickly lowered his head behind the rubble, just in time to avoid a stream of lasfire directed at his face. It was then that he heard a loud thunder and looked back to the breach where the same Leman Russ was laying waste to the heretic's heavy weapons positions, and it didn't stopped there, the tank fired its main cannon, blasting a hole in a building being used as cover by the rebels.

And from behind the tank came one of the regimental Commissars, Commissar Silas to be exact, a Mordian native with a permanent frown, very little regard for the life of the guardsmen and an uncanny ability to discover when some soldier tried to arrange an accident for him. Minuv saw the Commissar raising his bolt pistol and his sword, then he shouted:

"THE WAY IS OPEN MEN!FORWARD IN THE EMPEROR'S NAME!GLORY TO THE FIRST MAN TO DIE!"

That was his cue to jump out of cover and charge, and while a part of his mind begged him to remain in the safety of the rubble another larger part reminded him that he could survive a bayonet charge against enemy positions, showing hesitation to his Commissar on the other hand would mean an instant death by bolter. Without another thought Minuv jumped from behind the pile and ran to join the charge while reciting the litany of protection.

* * *

Commissar Silas smiled inwardly as more and more of the cowards joined the charge, the scum that passed as soldiers in his regiment tended to prefer cowing behind piles of trash instead of taking the fight to the enemy, as it should be done when dealing with the enemies of Man. A little encouragement was enough to get them to fight properly but this always made some cowards unhappy and Silas had stopped counting the attempts to paint a black cross on his back after the sixth one. Not that he was actually afraid of a bunch of weak willed cowards, his faith in the Emperor was all that he needed to destroy the Heretic, the Mutant and the Alien.

With another war cry he joined the charge, firing wildly on the mass of crazy cultists and mutants gathering on the end of the street, preparing to relieve the defensive positions, there were so many that he didn't even had to aim. Usually, he thought, his soldiers would retreat rather than face such large mass of enemies, but with his presence among them and the Hattian tank would hopefully incentive them to hold the line, if not no big loss, just more cowards to kill.

Replacing the spent clip with a new one Silas jumped into the melee, slicing the fleeing PDF with his chainsword and more bolter rounds, in the distance he could see the horde approaching, growing more and more as they passed through ruined buildings and rubble, some of them armed with improvised blades and a few laspistols firing wildly into the air. Before he could organize his men to counter-attack the mob started to blow, spraying blood and guts into the air and the ground. The Hattian tank had been joined by other two and even more troopers while the survivors of the first wave were diving to cover and redirecting the captured heavy weapons.

Then someone jumped on him and both fell down behind a ruined wall, before he could raise his weapon to kill the attacker he noticed that his attacker was wearing the golden uniform with purple trim of the Hattian regiments:

"Sorry sir but it´s dangerous to stand in the open like that." The soldier said smiling before kneeling and firing at the screaming mass of cultists.

Silas also rose up, resting his back against the wall and looked at the soldier, frowning even harder than usual.

"Name and rank soldier!"He demanded with a scowl.

The soldier ignored him and continued to fire at the enemy mob.

"Name and rank!"Silas shouted again, finally catching the attention of the trooper

"Corporal Ramir Gilzham, 4th Squad, 5th Platoon, 3rd Company." The soldier replied hesitantly, finally realizing that the Commissar didn't wanted his previous help.

"Very well, carry on."Silas grunted before jumping from cover and sprinting to a group of his own troopers firing at the enemy from inside a roofless building. He would make sure to remember the upstart and send a formal request to his commander to reprimand him.

* * *

**Kathay City. Outskirts.**

Driver Kalina smashed the accelerator again, finally driving the stuck Chimera out of the ruined trench and into a mass of screaming cultists, her gunner was already yelling at her to turn to the left and get them out of the line of fire of the PDF's anti-tank weapons while her passengers prayed, grabbed whatever solid object they could to not be thrown on the floor or simply emptied their bowels on the until then clean floor. And she already knew that if they survived she would be the one cleaning that mess. It was then that the Vox cracked to life:

"This is Captain Samia to all squads of 4th Company! Disembark and engage the enemy on foot at once! We will be providing a distraction..."And then the transmission cut, at least the Captain could have the decency of telling them why they were being used as bait, but such were the ways of commanding...

But when Kalina looked again through the viewing slits all she could see was a mass of mutated heretics swarming the Chimera, she could also hear the cries from her commander manning turret-mounted multi-laser, begging for her to find a way out of the horde while a trooper shouted another warning: They were trying to open the back doors.

Kalina stepped on the accelerator again, this time trying to back away from the mass of people that had surrounded the APC. It took a few seconds but the Chimera finally started to crush the screaming mass of flesh. Hopefully their remnants wouldn't clog the threads. The driver was smiling in satisfaction as she heard the yelps and cries of pain from the cultists when an explosion shock the vehicle, throwing a handful of soldiers in the firing ports off balance.

"They got Sibi's Chimera!We've got to get out of range from those guns!" The vehicle commander, Sajani shouted from the turret.

Kalina grunted, not bothering to reply, with all due respect but after years serving together Kalina at least expected her commanding officer to remember that she didn't liked to be ordered to do the obvious, obviously that was too much to ask for. It was then that she heard a particularly loud explosion, followed by another one. Then she heard her commanding officer screaming in glee

"The guns are blowing! Our girls got close enough to pepper the bastards with grenades!The cultists are retreating!YOU CAN'T HIDE TRAITOR SCUM!FASTER KALINA!FOR THE EMPEROR FOR JAHANGIR!" Kalina nodded happily, mostly to herself because she was sure that the commander wouldn't hear her, and once again slammed the accelerator, running over a few scattered and dazed cultists while her commander and the gunner fired at the fleeing mass. As they approached the trenches Kalina could see several destroyed Chimera and further up a mass of Vostroyan and Jahangir soldiers making their way through a brutal melee into the city itself. Suddenly she felt her gunner tapping her shoulder, that was the signal to stop and let the troopers disembark, she quickly stopped the vehicle and activated her vox bead:

"Alright ladies!Sorry for the bumpy ride but thanks to the Emperor we're here!"She finished with a smile before before opening the APC's door."Now get the hell out of my baby!"She shouted with fake anger as the troopers checked their gear and comm channels.

After the twelve guardswomen had unloaded and formed up in two squads Sajani contacted her through the vox bead:

"What are you waiting for Kalina? Bring us into the fight! Armored support isn't going to appear from thin air!"

* * *

Captain Chigazov sliced another frothing heretic with his chainsword, it looked like the entire population of the city was converging on his squad, part of the Imperial units that had managed to breach the main defensive lines of the enemy and enter Kathay City itself. He ducked as another cultist tried to snap his head off with a crab-like claw and then thrust his chainsword into the mutant's chin, the abomination fell to the ground convulsing for a few moments before finally dying. The Sargent didn't had time to enjoy his success however, as another screaming madmen lunged at him with a sword aimed at his head, Chigazov quickly raised his laspistol and killed his assailant with a well placed shot.

At his left another Jahangir trooper to the ground, decapitated. While these cultists had no real equipment or training to speak of, their mutations and numbers were slowly giving them the edge. And with the bulk of the Vostroyan and Jahangir companies still tied up trying to enter the city, his numbers were being whittled down by attrition. The main problem of course the complete disorganization among the units that had managed to enter the city, squads were scattered, leaders dead and Chaotic chatter filled comm channels. Chigazov barely managed to gather fifty or so troopers to his command from both regiments, that now had been reduced to thirty-something survivors. His rag-tag infiltration group was at first trying to head back to the edges of the city and hit the rear of the traitor's lines but since then they had been under constant attack and now they were lost inside the tainted city.

While they used the temporary lull in the assault to make their way through the sheer wrongness of the city finally started to sink in the Imperial soldiers. Blasphemous runes painted with blood covered the walls, mutilated bodies hung from buildings and posts while guts and blood covered altars to the Ruinous Powers. Chigazov could see that this brazen display of heresy was making his soldiers nervous, twitchy and edgy. Worse, the chaos chatter on the Vox channels was getting worse, the Captain himself was suffering the effects of being surrounded by the temptations of Chaos.

It was then that a guardswoman, a sergeant judging by the officer stripes, she saluted and then spoke, in an accented Low Gothic and sounding quite sure of herself:

"Sir, I think that we should seek another route...the boys are getting uneasy with all this Chaos stuff and we're vulnerable here in the middle of the street."

"Very well sergeant, why don't you propose an alternate route..." Chigazov replied with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

The sergeant was taken by surprise by the reply, apparently she was expecting him to think of something. Some initiative would be nice once in a while. Chigaov was preparing to reply when he noticed a very faint sound in the distance that wasn't from the battle around the city. It looked like another mob of cultists moving towards them, they had lingered too much on a single place and Chigazov wasn't looking forward to another engagement of the sort:

"We must move now!" He said frowning to the sergeant."We move now!That way!"He shouted to the soldiers,indicating a narrow side street, there was no point in using the Vox thanks to the Chaos chatter."And turn off the damn Vox!"

To their credit the troopers moved fast to the side street, large enough to fit only two men walking side by side, nevertheless, it was too late to turn back now. Their only chance was to move fast and find shelter or a larger street far from the mob, a single grenade could spell doom to his mismatched force. And just to rub salt on the wound that same Jahangir sergeant was now marching by his side, she wasn't showing but the captain was sure that she was boiling with anger and blaming him for their current situation. If they weren't on such tight spot he would reprimand her.

Because the captain was distracted by his thoughts he didn't noticed that the march had stopped, the only thing stopping him from bumping into one of his Vostroyan was a firm tug in the arm from the Jahangir sergeant. The reason for the halt soon spread by whispers along the line, they had found an entrance to the sewer and another turn. Chigazov didn't gave much thought about the decision, he could hear the sounds of battle intensifying in the distance and a mob approaching, the sewers were the logical choice. He pointed to the ground with his thumb and waited the order to pass through the line of men and women, surprisingly the Jahangir sergeant nodded in approval and in turn Chigazov smiled in satisfaction.

It took over fifteen minutes for all thirty-something troopers to climb down the ladder to the sewers. The foul stench of the sewers hit Chigazov even before he got near the sewer was not a normal sewer smell however, Chigazov couldn't quite place it, but there was a sense, a smell of wrongness emanating from the sewer and judging by the looks and comments of his fellow troopers they felt the same way.

The first soldiers to come down had already scattered and established a perimeter, their lamp packs cutting swaths of light in the darkness of the tunnel, revealing only a large and wide corridor on one side and a wall on the other. Chigazov walked around for a few minutes encouraging the men and surveying the area, at least the parts lighted by the troops, before returning to the center of the room near the ladder

"It looks like we don't have a lot of option captain." The Jahangir sergeant said as he approached

"Indeed...it looks like..."Chigazov replied looking at her, she was leaning on the ladder, the light coming from up above allowed him to see clearly the look of disdain on her face, that coupled with her tone when speaking to him made the captain wish for the first time for the presence of a Commissar.

"I'm sergeant Sanij by the way." She replied extending her hand, Chigazov nodded and shook it."Captain Chigazov."

The introductions were cut short by a surprised yelp coming from the wall, they both turned at the same time to see the head of a Vostroyan guardsman sticking out of the wall, prompting several soldiers to make the sign of the Aquilla. An illusion to mislead any intruders, but if someone had the trouble of casting this illusion there was something worth of protection on the other side. Immediately the gears of Chigazov's brain started to move, he had a plan!

* * *

And now I present the fourth chapter, this time with some real action to boot. Please review, critics and suggestions are always welcome.

Warhammer 40 000 belongs to Games Workshop.

Imperial Guard regiments (Hattian, Jahangir, Valdivian) created with 1d4chan's Imperial Guard Regiment Creation Table ( /wiki/Imperial_Guard_Regiment_Creation_Tables)

Also, the next chapter will be the end of the Arrant Secundus "arc" and I'm still unsure of what to do next, as always suggestions are welcome.


	5. The Emperor provides

**Kariasi Crusade**

**Chapter 5**

* * *

**Breitenfeld. Capital of Arrant Secundus.**

Inquisitor Ranulph hated the infiltration parts of his job, mostly because it involved making his way through dirty and smelly sewers, with raw waste up to the knees. It was simply annoying for a man of his birth, his position or his powers to walk through filth. But alas, to do his service for the Emperor, Hector had to suffer such indignities like staining his power armor and putting up with the squads he had requested to complement his own retinue. The Hattians he had no trouble with of course, all proper gentlemen and fine warriors, silent and obedient. But the Valdivians were a feral rabble, undisciplined, noisy and would probably be little more than a hindrance in the fight. Still, these six savages were the "cream" of the regiment, the best infiltrators they had to offer and Hector could use some extra cannon fodder.

His team consisted of 12 guardsmen (six from each regiment) and five members of his retinue, Kalenko the Interrogator, the Storm troopers Samesh, Halid, Torgent and Illiav, a Sanctioned Psyker. Three Valdivian guardsmen were already on the lead, scouting the tunnels ahead while the other three were guarding the rear. Currently his team was following a lead acquired by the Psyker, the damned mutant had "felt a great concentration of Warp energy coming from the city" and in his years serving the Holy Inquisition Ranulph learned that these omens should not be ignored and whatever unholy ritual these cultists were planning, Emperor willing, he would interrupt and cleanse with Holy Fire.

Then one of the Hattian troopers gave the halt signal as the sound of faint splashing footsteps grew louder, the soldiers raised their weapons and the Inquisitor held the hilt of his power sword instinctively, the troops relaxed as the form of a Valdivian trooper were illuminated by the flashlights, the scout walked over to the Inquisitor and spoke in an almost whisper:

"We have found an intersection my Lord Inquisitor, should we follow the current path or turn left or right?" Hector took a moment to observe the scout, he was a tall bald man, of dark skin, thin facial features and a large scar on his scalp. Without bothering to reply Hector approached Illiav, the Psyker would have to divine the right path quickly.

As if on cue the Psyker abruptly turned to him, the temperature dropped sharply and an ethereal glow surrounded Illiav, then he lifted from the ground and spoke with an much deeper voice:

"We must tread the true path set by the Emperor!The enemies of Mankind wish to deviate us from our rightful path!"And just as quick he fell down to the ground, falling on his butt. Looking around, even in the dark Hector could see that the Guardsmen were unnerved by that, he repressed a smile, Illiav knew how to be dramatic.

He calmly walked back to the scout, mouth agape and clutching an Aquila on his left hand ordered:

"We keep moving forward."

The scout nodded and stormed forward, probably relieved to distance himself from the abomination.

* * *

**Kathay City**

Chigazov's eyes had long since adapted to the dark of the sewer tunnels, his nose on the other hand was still burning with the stench of waste. By his estimation he and his groups had crossed the fake wall over a hour ago, but then again, with no light source besides their flashlights it was hard to tell how much time it had passed, and this deep below the city the sounds of battle could't be heard, as far as the possibilities went the Imperial assault could have already faltered, not that he dared to dwell on that line of thought. He still had to put a confident face to the troopers (who were probably thinking along the same lines) even if they couldn't see it through the dark.

Then Sanij, the Jahangir Sergeant, who was marching by his side, whispered to him:

"Can you smell that?" Chigazov wondered how she could smell anything besides the reeking waste and their feet.

"There's something in the air..."She insisted."It looks like ozone."

Ozone?How could she smell ozone in the midst of this filth? And if there was ozone in the air it meant that lasweapons had been fired and they hadn't heard nothing of the sort since they crossed the wall. Sanij opened her mouth again but Chigazov cut her off with a wave of his had:

"It's just your nose playing tricks on your brain." He assured her.

Then he felt something on his boot, somehow different than the usual biowaste floating on the sewer, it felt tougher, harder. He pointed his lifted with his foot and after some effort something emerged from the sewer stream, it was still too dark to be sure but it looked like an arm. It was an arm, the beam of light from Sanij's lamp proved it, an black-armored arm. Hesitantly Chigazov bent down and grabbed the arm while Sanij gave the order for the group to halt.

With some effort due to the weight of the armor Chigazov lifted a body, placing it against a wall to examine it better, turning his flashlight to the body Chigazov could see a headless man in black carapace armor covered in filth.

"What unit do you think that he belongs?"Chigazov asked Sanij.

"Let's see it now."She replied, kneeling in front of the body and wiping of the one of the shoulder pads, revealing an Inquisition sign on it. Somehow the captain wasn't completely surprised by that, the Inquisition was bound to show up at some point, preferably before chaos-spawned mutants started to crawl out from every corner.

"The Inquisition was here, and we haven't found anymore bodies around, my guess is that they were captured or died further on the way,and that also explains the faint ozone smell in the air." Sanij mused while cleaning her hands on her pants.

"But that doesn't explains how we didn't heard anything."Chigazov replied dismissively, then he realized something:"Unless that barrier also blocked the sounds.."

Sanij nodded and then spoke:"So, we shall continue marching in hopes of doing what the Inquisition couldn't."

"You make it sound like we don't have a it off, it's not good for morale."Chigazov replied upset.

The Sergeant grunted something and gave the signal to resume the march.

* * *

**Breitenfeld Sewers**

The infiltration group had crossed the intersection almost a hour ago, at least according to his watch, and so far the auspex also showed no signs of movement nearby. Sighing internally Hector wondered how his subordinates were doing in Kathay City, Bran would surely try to enter the city by the sewers and avoid the pitched battle above them. With any luck they would be able to enter the city and eliminate whatever sorcerer or chaos-spawned abomination commanded the rebel forces before they could summon demons to support then. Unfortunately luck was something that an Inquisitor could rarely count on.

Then, one of the Hattian troopers spoke:

"My Lord, I'm picking movement in the auspex, five, seven...twelve dots coming in our direction." Hector turned to Illiav who nodded and then added: "I can feel it."

"Alright men! form up and fire as soon as you get visual contact!"Hector ordered, unsheathing his power sword and arming the bolter mounted in the gauntlet his power armor.

A few moments later they could hear the footsteps splashing and unholy war cries of the warp-maddened host,and with them a few stray rounds from autoguns, the Guardsmen replied with drilled barrages of lasfire, soon after the attackers charged into the light of the flashlights and ignoring the punishing fire from the lasrifes they pressed on. A split second later a bolt of lighting surged through the mutants stopping them right on their tracks and finally killing two,the quick respite allowed the guards and stormtroopers to kill other three but the mutants, probably infused with some unholy power to increase their strength and resistance, resumed their charge just as fast as it was stopped.

Hector rushed to the meet the charge head on and with a swing of his sword a mutant fell to the ground while the top half of his head fell to the other. With no time to savor his little victory he blocked a crab-like claw and blew the attacker's brain with his bolter. Yet another mutant rushed, this one covered with las wounds and lacking a chunk of the left arm while flailing a chainsword with his right one. Good, they were strong but not particularly skilled. The inquisitor jumped to the left to dodge the swing of the chainsword and made a thrust aiming for the head, to his credit the filthy mutant managed to dodge fast enough to keep his head and leave his useless arm to receive the hit, predictably it fell down into the murky water of the sewer while his owner didn't even flinched from the pain.

Meanwhile the battle had descended into a confused melee, although the mutants were outnumbered they had greater strength, better dark vision and were completely fearless, that was giving them the edge. From the corner of his vision Hector could see Torgent getting ripped apart while Kalenko and that Valdivian scout struggled to fight off a single multi-limbed monstrosity.

The one-armed mutant attacked again, this time with a horizontal slice, Hector blocked with his own sword and used the opportunity to blast its head with his bolter but once again the mutant managed to avoid death and lose only a chunk of his face and disengage. Hector could feel the anger and frustration building up inside him, how could this filthy warp-spawned heretic refuse to die? It attacked again but Hector once again managed to block, but it was just a feint and the mutant kicked him right into the gut, sending the inquisitor plummeting into the sewer floor. Unintentionally swallowing a mouthful of the polluted water Hector raised his head in time to see a chainsword coming directly at him, he barely managed to roll to the left. But then the chainsword got stuck in the ground,the mutant easily dislodged it but the precious seconds spent doing it allowed Hector to finally fire a killing shot with his bolter.

Jumping to his feet the Inquisitor quickly surveyed the situation: There were still eight mutants 7 Guardsmen and his team fighting. He lunged at the nearest enemy, the four-armed monstrosity attacking his interrogator. Hector stabbed the mutant in the back, unfortunately his sword had penetrated so deeply that it got stuck in the mass of bones and muscles. The monster turned his attention to Hector and growled angrily at the Inquisitor, showing a mouth filled with sharp teeth. Hector raised his bolter and fired at the heretic's head, one, two, three times before he heard the click of the empty magazine and even though it lacked considerable chunks of its head the monster didn't died. Instead it charged Hector, who didn't had time to avoid the attack and was once again thrown into the ground, swallowing another mouthful of that dirty water.

Fortunately for him Kalenko and the Valdivian scout managed to kill the abomination once and for all with several well placed shots. The Inquisitor once again stood up and with a nod to Kalenko, who was already rushing to help the beleaguered stormtroopers, ran to the body to retrieve his power sword. After some effort he managed to wrestle the sword from the body. Just in time to parry another claw and cut off the mutated limb before beheading the mutant.

The temperature of the area soon dropped again and Hector turned to see Illiav frying two other mutants and thus attracting the remaining abominations to him. Hector wondered if as a result of the mutation by the Dark Powers they were reduced to a primitive sense of danger hierarchy, ignoring the perceived weak foes in favor of taking down the most dangerous enemy as soon as possible, later he could put more thought into that but by that moment the mutants simply exposed themselves to the guns of the remaining guardsmen and stormtroopers and even in their strengthened state they weren't capable of resisting the combined fire of the Inquisitorial retinue.

With the fight over Hector quickly gathered the survivors and gave the Emperor's Benediction to those who couldn't walk. Now there was no doubt, the enemy knew they were there and he couldn't lose any more time.

* * *

**Kathay City Sewers**

The discovery that the Inquisition had a team on the sewers left everyone edgy and wary, Chigazov had refrained from sending scouts too far ahead because not a single soldier in his rag-tag group was from a scout squad and because of the damn chatter that interfered with the com-beads. They had no idea of where they were going or if the enemy was waiting for them. Chigazov hated this situation but, at least to him, it was clear that since they crossed the wall and found the body they had only one option: Keep going and eliminate the threat that the stormtrooper was sent to crush. Of course, it would be much easier if he had any idea of what threat they were fighting in the dimly-lit and smelly sewers, but if the Emperor saw fit to put Chigazov in this situation then he would not fail.

Unfortunately he couldn't say that his fellow guardsmen had the same determination, most were afraid and hesitant, if the worst came to happen and they crossed the path of some Deamon or Warp-powered sorcerer the captain was sure that some would break and run. And that was one of the few times that Chigazov wished to have a Commissar nearby. The visage of such steadfast servant of the Emperor would inspire the soldiers to fight harder. But alas, they would have to content themselves with a burly Vostroyan captain and a Jahangir sergeant.

"You smell this?It's ozone again." Sanij said whilst sniffing the air, this time the scent was much more noticeable, enough for the rest of them to notice too. Soon after came the unmistakable but faint sound of lasfire and that grew louder and louder each passing moment. The troopers instinctively pressed against the walls and turned off their flashlights.

The sound of combats drew near and with them came the sound of splashing from lots of feet along with battle cries and yelps of pain. Apparently not the entire Inquisitorial team was killed by the heretics. But before Chigazov could think about the ramifications of the fact he heard a loud "For the Emperor" and looked forward to see a bunch of Guardsmen shooting wildly into the dark. If he survived this he would personally ensure the firing squad for whomever decided that it was a good idea to give away their position and didn't even had the capacity to remember to turn on the flashlights.

With a cry of frustration the captain ordered the rest of the group to open fire and "turn the damn lights on!". From what he could discern from the tunnel ahead there was a wounded stormtrooper totting a hellpistol in the left arm, firing blindly while the right arm dangled uselessly. Behind him another horde of mutated cultists and PDF troopers. Fortunately for the Imperial troops they were so tightly packed in the sewer tunnel that they just needed to point their lasgun forward and press the trigger.

While Chigazov picked off enemies armed with ranged weapons Sanij darted forward towards the wounded and probably dazed stormtrooper to retrieve him before the poor fellow got ripped apart by the Chaos-maddeded mob. The sudden appearance of thirty-odd guardsmen opening fire on them surprised the mob and caused some disruption as the front ranks either stopped on their tracks, dived to the ground or just kept charging. To her credit the sergeant managed to drag the stormtrooper back to the guard's ranks with the mob hot on her tracks.

The mob clashed with the front row of Guardsmen and quickly overwhelmed them through sheer numbers. Sanij carefully placed the wounded storm trooper leaning on a wall and returned to the fray while Chigazov urged the remaining guards forward. Despite the superior numbers and mutations most mutants attacked without any coordination while the corrupted PDF fired in the mass hitting mutant and guard alike.

Chigazov didn't had a lot of room to maneuver in the confused melee, the best he could do was punch, slice and try to not hit the men and women under his command. Behind him a heretic tried to stab his neck with a bayonet but he was cut down by a Jahangir guardswoman who was then decapitated by a bulky clawed mutant with the captain none the wiser. He was too busy fighting off the filthy abominations in front of him. This sort of madness, stupidity even and weak mind that made good Imperial citizens forfeit their souls to the Arch Enemy always infuriated Chigazov more than any other type of enemy. These mutants were a living mockery of the God Emperor and the perfection of the human form that they had gave up for hollow promises of power.

And then a sudden explosion sent shock and putrid water waves through the sewers, even launching several cultists and guards into the roof and walls like rag dolls. Chigazov quickly regained his balance and after finishing off a dazed cultist he looked over to see the spot where the few PDF had stopped to give fire support to their fellow heretics, now only blood and body parts remained. Someone must have threw a grenade over there, he thought, it could have killed them all but at least it worked, and he was in no mood to keep dwelling on the thought of what could happen when there were still enemies of the Emperor to slay.

But no matter how many limbs he cut, how many heads he separated from mutated bodies the tide of enemies seemed endless. From the corner of his eye he saw Sanij stabbing and slicing mutants with her bayonet. The captain turned to parry a sword and slice another mutant when a stream of lasfire almost hit him in the head, he hoped that some of his men had disengaged and were trying to give fire support but wouldn't dare to look and leave an opening to an enemy. Not that it was enough to stop another heretic from sneaking behind him and kicking his back and sending him plummeting face first into the sewer water. He rolled to his side in time to just suffer a cut in the arm and kick the legs of his attacker. However before he had time to stand up a hail of rapid lasfire ripped through the confused melee.

The stormtrooper was back up and firing his hellpistol with little care of who he hit. Chigazov managed to crawl away from the melee as both sides tried to get out of the stormtrooper line of fire. Finally Chigazov managed to stand up and order the Inquisitorial soldier to cease fire, the stormtrooper didn't obeyed and Chigazov was forced to subdue him. Fortunately the trooper was apparently to distracted with murderous glee to notice the Vostroyan captain jumping on him.

Both fell to the ground with Chigazov on top of the stormtrooper, who was laughing like a madman.

"Get a hold of yourself trooper! That's an order!" Chigazov shouted

"Why should I? There's no point in resisting the will of the Go-"Chigazov didn't slit his throat before he could finish.

Looking around he saw three Vostroyan and a Jahangir troopers dead with shots in the back of their heads. It was his own troops who were trying to snipe off the enemy after all. Turning back to the melee he noticed that the enemy was retreating. At first he thought that they had finally scared the mutants but if that was the reason then all of them would run, and those that did didn't looked scared at all. The same couldn't be said to his remaining soldiers, from the thirty-something that had descended into the sewers Chigazov could count less than fifteen and there were at least 20 or more heretics swarming them.

"IN THE EMPEROR'S NAME EXTERMINATE THESE ABOMINATIONS!" Chigazov yelled, finally charging back into the fray.

The battle didn't took long after that, even tired and wounded the guardsmen were able to defeat the cultists once and for all, albeit at a heavy cost. Only ten remained standing counting with the captain while others were too wounded to fight.

"What do we do now sir?" A Vostroyan soldier asked and Chigazov instantly recognized him, it was trooper Mikhailovich from the seventh company, the two weren't close friends but a shaved Vostroyan wasn't an easy sight to forget.

"We continue on our way, those heretics didn't fled because we scared. It's our task as dutiful servants of the God Emperor to root out the source of this _khekking _heresy." Chigazov replied coldly

"Are you insane?!"A Jahangir trooper protested."We barely survived and you want to hunt some damned sorcerer with just ten guardsmen?!It's suicide."

"The Emperor is with us and we cannot fail." Chigazov replied calmly, he was starting to get upset with the cowardice of these women.

"We have to find a way out and get reinforcements!"The insistence of this trooper was really getting into Chigazov's nerves

"Why don't you follow the example of your sergeant?She doesn't seem scared of a few dirty mutants." Chigazov argued, the trooper just pointed to somewhere behind him and when he turned his head and pointed his flashlight into the general direction he saw the mutilated body of sergeant Sanij leaning on a wall. A pity he thought, she was a good soldier for a woman and without their leader the remaining Jahangir troopers would be much less willing to proceed. Time to go for plan B:

"Then." Chigazov started, drawing his pistol."I will make you suffer a coward's death." He finished in a threatening tone.

The three remaining Jahangir troopers tensed.,

"You wouldn't dare...you're not my commanding officer!" She replied. Chigazov could sense a small bit of fear in her voice.

"Hesitation and cowardice in this moment are no better than heresy!"Chigazov continued, raising his pistol. It was a risky move, she could either submit or fire back in self defense.

"Alright, alright, I'm no traitor..."She budged and the captain allowed himself a little smile.

* * *

**Breitenfeld.**

Hector could feel it in his bones, they were nearing their target. The place was radiating vile Warp energies making Illiav more and more uneasy and twitchy. The group had exited the sewers half hour ago, climbing a stair that led them to an alley near a former Imperial Cathedral. The sight of the Imperium's holy icons desecrated reinforced the determination of the Inquisitor and his group, a much needed boost to the faltering morale of the guardsmen. But even with the renewed vigor the Inquisitor knew that they would be no match to the fortified emplacements defending the unholy temple, source of the Warp disturbance.

The group was currently hiding in a nearby ruin, the remaining Valdivians had been sent to look for an unprotected entrance point while the Sanctioned Psyker tried to divine a way to bypass the defenses. And from what they could pierce together from weak, garbled and confused Vox transmissions the Imperial Guard forces had made a good headway into the city, Hattian tanks and Valdivian infantry were mowing down the poorly armed cultists whose great numbers were also taking their toll on the Emperor's Hammer.

Hector busied himself trying to form up a plan of action to take out the sorcerer, at least Illiav was sure that it was a sorcerer, either an inexperienced one or a very good at masking his power, usually the servants of the Ruinous Powers don't bother to hide their power but assuming things without further information would be foolish.

"My Lord." Kalenko said in an almost whisper as he approached the sitting Inquisitor."The scouts have returned and they have found a back entrance, but we would need to turn around some streets, get back to the sewers, get out again, turn a few-"

Kalenko's explanation was cut short by a rather large explosion,louder and nearer than usual. Hector cautiously raised his head and saw a smoking crater where once stood a heavy gun emplacement, soon the remaining heavy weapons opened fire on an unseen foe along with the cultists. Another explosion took out a lascannon and screaming cultists were mowed down by bolter and lasfire.

"The Guard is here!"Kalenko exclaimed happily

"Indeed...let's see if they can give us an opening." Hector replied more calm, from what he had saw the cultists would probably be able to hold the line through sheer numbers, if those heavy weapons didn't took out the tank first. More cultists walked away from the chaos temple and joined their brothers massing in front of the heavy weapons, soon after what looked like a hundred or so of them charged the unseen guard forces. Another shell hit the middle of the horde, sending bodies, body parts and innards flying while the lasfire grew more intense but the charge continued.

"Gather the men, we're moving in." Hector ordered as he stood up and reloaded his wrist-mounted bolter. Kalenko nodded and hurried away to gather the remaining six members of the team, two stormtroopers, Illiav and three guardsmen.

Five minutes later the eight men were already creeping through the line of ruined buildings leading to the left wall of the former cathedral. Not far from them the battle had just grown worse with three Hattian tanks already out of combat and the guardsmen fighting hand to hand with the cultist horde, who was slowly growing as groups of cultists arrived from other areas of the city, the Cathedral was surely an important part of their plan if it deserved such level of fanatical protection. Hector wasn't worried if they could resist the cultist assault, he was sure that they couldn't. Instead, he was worried if his team would have enough time to kill the sorcerer and cut the head of the cult.

Trooper Razam, a Valdivian scout signaled for them to stop, they were near a side entrance guarded only by a few PDF troopers distracted by the nearby battle. Razam rushed forward and dived behind another pile of rubble. Hector could see him taking a deep breath and muttering something, maybe a quick prayer, before using his long-las to kill the guards with excellent precision and speed. Even before the last body fell he turned and signaled them to move on.

The team quickly crossed the street and gathered around the door. Stortrooper Samesh kicked the door open and rushed inside followed by the rest of the group. Even though the Inquisitor was already expecting something of the sort the sheer wrongness and corruption of Chaos always left him unnerved: Statues of Holy Saints toppled, damned runes written with blood on the walls and altars, eldritch statuettes and symbols placed apparently randomly around the floor, a multitude of mutilated sacrifices over the altars and walls and a strong smell of incense infesting the place.

Nobody expected the Inquisition and they used this surprise to full effect, quickly scattering for cover and gunning down the nearest cultists. Hector and Illiav mnanaged to take cover behind a large column before the cultists were able to fight back, some laying down Suppressive fire while others charged. A smart tactic Hector would have to admit but they also had a few tricks in their sleeves. He reached to his belt and grabbed a grenade and threw it at one of the charging groups of mutated heretics. Kalenko and the stormtroopers did the same with equally effective results.

"WE MUST MOVE!THE VEIL IS BEING RIPPED APART!" Illiav suddenly screamed, scaring and confusing the guardsmen and the stortroopers, but Hector and Kalenko had enough experience to know what the Psyker meant. They had arrived just in time to stop a summoning ritual.

"THROUGH THAT DOOR!WE MUST MOVE AT ONCE!" Illiav continued before breaking cover and sending bolts of lighting towards the remaining cultists, frying a few of them before the rest managed to blow a hole in his chest with las beams.

Hector cursed himself for losing another powerful and trusted subordinate. Hector would have time to think about it later, when he didn't had to stop a deamon horde from ripping the veil.

The remaining cultists were taken down in quick succession by accurate las-fire, they were too busy and distracted to notice Razam moving along the edges and taking a good firing position.

Hector broke from cover and ran to the door urging his men forward towards the last set of doors between them and the salvation of this miserable little backwater. He didn't even bothered to wait for the rest of the team to catch up, preferring to slice his way through the large and ornate doors as soon as he got nearer.

The Inquisitor entered the small chamber, significantly colder than the rest of the Cathedral, with its walls covered by dark and corrupted symbols and the floor covered by sacrificed bodies. In the center, above a small elevated altar floated an old man (or woman, it was hard to tell) covered by robes and surrounded by dark energy what pale skin was not covered by the long yellow robes was covered by piercings and rings arranged in the shape of yet more dark and chaotic runes, in his wrinkled and scarred scalp scalp a few strands of red hair were tied by straps of human flesh. As soon as the Inquisitor entered the room the sorcerer turned its milky white eyes to him and grinned before taking a quick breath and releasing a stream of fire.

Hector managed to barely dodge in time (getting part of his hair singed in the process) Razam wasn't so lucky and was consumed by the unholy warp fire. The Inquisitor managed to fire a few bolter rounds that missed the sorcerer before he released another breath of fire, cooking the two remaining guardsmen and a stormtrooper.

Kalenko and the remaining stormtrooper opened fire and the sorcerer replied with yet another gout of fire. Giving Hector the chance to hit the corrupted Psyker with his wrist mounted bolter. The bullets hit the old bastard squarely on the back sending him falling over the altar with a satisfying crack, Hector climbed the stairs in a hurry to make sure that the old bastard was dead, he found the sorcerer twitching and lamely trying to stand up, the dark energy quickly dissipating. Hector cut him in half with his power sword and looked over to see how the rest of his group were faring: the guardsmen were dead, a stormtrooper was agonizing with most of his body burnt. Kalenko was leaning against a wall for support with his right arm completely burned.

That was a costly victory, it would take months to arrange another squad of stormtroopers (and that if he immediately returned to the nearest Inquisitorial fortress world). He just prayed that Bran was faring better.

* * *

**Somewhere below Kathay City.**

Captain Chigazov and the two remaining guardsmen (Mikhailovich and another Vostroyan that he hadn't bothered to learn the name) ran along the rough tunnels carved below the city, they had found the entrance right after another skirmish with cultists ended with more four troopers dead. Since then ambushes in this blasted and cold tunnel had claimed the lives of all but the three, a tenth of their original number. Chigazov was tired,lost,wounded and so were the other two, they had been marching and fighting in the underground for Throne knows for how long, lesser troops would have given up but they were Vostroyan Firstborn and they had gone too far to turn back.

They had only one remaining flashlight, mounted on Mikhailovich's lasgun that was on its last power cells, his own chainsword had broken and he was using a bayonet instead, his pistol was out of ammo and being used as a club. The other Vostroyan, who sported a mighty and bushy beard, now disheveled and dirty with sewer waste and blood was using his own gun as a spear. Chigazov cursed himself silently for not remembering to recover power cells from the dead.

Suddenly their attention was caught by a loud noise, a cross between whispers and a Boom. They pressed forward with increased haste and found a turn to the left lit by an unnatural purpish light. Chigazov steeled himself and charged followed by the other two soldiers, the three yelling at the top of their lungs.

They entered a small and even colder room, Chigazov involuntarily, the walls were covered with dark runes written with black chalk and blood and in the floor lots of cultist bodies and a figure covered by robes crackled maniacally over a slumped figure on the other corner of the room. In the middle of the underground chamber was an elevated altar covered with blood in which a small book rested. Of course, neither the captain nor the Vostroyan troopers noticed that. They were too busy charging.

The sorcerer, glowing with unnatural light turned to face them and laughed, he didn't even dignified the Vostroyan with words before launching a bolt of pure warp energy at them, Mikhailovich was hit and was transformed into a mutating and screaming mass of flesh and bone Chigazov and the other Vostroyan jumped one to avoid the bolt and charged. The sorcerer laughed again and released a stream of fire that killed both men. The sorcerer smiled and was ready to resume the summoning ritual when Bran smashed his head with a power maul

Abites turned Acolyte Bran didn't stopped to smash the lifeless body until it had been reduced into a unrecognizable red pulp. He had already accepted his fate when the three guardsmen stormed into the room and distracted the sorcerer long enough for him to have a chance to strike down the heretic. He laughed with joy and made a mental note to seek a confessor for his lack of faith, how could he doubt the irresistible will of the Emperor?

* * *

And now I present the fifth and final chapter of the Arrant Secundus Arc. The next will be an interlude to clarify some details (like how the battles went, who survived etc) before the start of the next subplot : Guard vs Orks on a Hive World

Warhammer 40 000 belongs to Games Workshop.

Imperial Guard regiments (Hattian, Jahangir, Valdivian) created with 1d4chan's Imperial Guard Regiment Creation Table

Feedback is appreciated.


	6. Interlude I

**The Kariasi Crusade**

**Chapter 6**

* * *

**Breitenfeld**

The battle was over but there was still a job to finish. By orders of Inquisitor Hector Ranulph the settlements of Breitenfeld and Kathay City were to be purged by flame and Major Wodan was more than happy to obey, he was still getting used to the bionic left arm, a gift from the Inquisitor who had came to the planet with a reserve of bionic replacements for his mostly dead retinue. His aim was still shoddy but that would improve in time, for now he didn't had to be a crack shot to use a flamer on dead bodies and ruins. Around him six other Valdivian troopers with flamers helped him to torch another mass pile of bodies. This was basically their routine for the last four days: wake up, grab the flamers and cook something. The Hattians had departed two days ago, the fancy pants and their tanks were too valuable to waste on a simple cleaning operation. Same for those Jahangir gals and their Chimeras. The Vostroyan however, had taken such heavy casualties that it was decided to leave them behind until reinforcements could be arranged from Vostroya.

"Lucky bastards."Wodan said aloud, but not enough to be heard by his men over the sound of the flames. At least, he thought, the Inquisitor wasn't one of those overly paranoid types that liked to purge entire regiments just for looking at a Chaos cultist.

* * *

**Aboard the Tyrant-class Cruiser _Saint Sabbat._ In orbit above Arrant Secundus. **

Inquisitor Hector Ranulph walked through the ornate corridors of the upper levels of the ship after sending his report of the incident through the ship's Astropaths. He mindlessly stared at the paintings and statues of Holy Saints and great admirals lined on the walls. Usually he would stop for a few moments to admire the art but he was too busy thinking about what happened; nearly his whole team was dead, of the two survivors Bran had died from his wounds shortly after climbing out of the sewers, carrying the dog tags of three Vostroyan soldiers. And Kalenko was undergoing surgery to install a new bionic arm to replace the one that was burnt by the sorcerer. His whole team had been decimated for this Pyrrhic victory, and he had no idea of what happened on Kathay City because Bran died before he could explain anything, and even with him spending two days scouring the city to make sure that the threat was dealt with the fact that he didn't knew exactly what had happened in the tunnels was a small torture for Hector.

Nevertheless, he had more pressing concerns, namely rebuilding his team. He wouldn't be able to ensure the purity with the rest of the system, and more importantly, Arrant Prime, with just Kalenko. No, with the appearance of this cult so near of one of the Crusade's major supply hub he would need to redouble his efforts to protect the system. Maybe even swallow his pride and ask for the Lord Inquisitor to send another agent to support him. But that would have take time and he couldn't simply stand idly waiting for support while the forces of the Archenemy grew stronger and corrupted the system from within.

For now all he could do was to head to Arrant Prime and enter in contact with local authorities to coordinate their efforts and maybe find some promising recruits for his retinue. And so, with an expression of determination on his face he turned on his heels and started to make his way to the command bridge to order the captain to set course to the Hive World.

* * *

**Aboard the Imperial Navy Troop Transport _Purgatus. _Crossing the Warp en route to Schwezen  
**

Colonel Arban rubbed his shaved chin with satisfaction, the cream that he had received from the ship's captain was really doing wonders for his skin, the man was a proper gentleman: Polite, funny and a connoisseur of Imperial history. The captain reminded Arban of home, of the Hattian nobility and the pleasant discussions and duels that he had with his friends. Pushing his nostalgia to the back of his mind he forced himself to pay attention to the greatcoat-wearing Valhallan officer, General Timoshenko, besides the hololithic display:

"Your attention please gentleman!"He started raising his voice to a level louder than the constant humming of the ship

"As you may already know our target is the Hive World of Schwezen, currently under attack by Warboss Backsmasha, the Orks have landed three months ago on the planet's by crashing a Space Hulk on the northern continent." As he spoke an aide manipulated the controls and the hololithic image changed accordingly.

"They have already overran two of the three hives in the continent while the third is currently under siege." The image changed to show a red wave overrunning most of the northern continent. Local PDF forces have been unable to hold the thin strip of land linking the northern continent with the central landmass and as a result the Orks have started to pour into the central landmass, Oreska." The red mass then expanded again on the map, showing the extent of the Ork advance so far."Our task is to help the PDF stabilize the line and then prepare a counter-attack to drive the filthy Xenos out of Schwezen once and for all!"He finished shouting proudly."Any questions?"

"What's the current strength of the PDF forces?" The Jahangir colonel from Arrant Secundus, Jugurtha if Arban remembered well, asked.

"Good question,by our latest reports the PDF consists of..."Timoshenko started before looking at a dataslate."roughly two million and a half."

"And how well armed are they?"Another officer, a Steel Legion major asked

"The planet has a considerable industrial base, it produces mostly small arms and heavy weapons that supplied Lord General Marak's battlegroup fighting the Harachian Xenos, needless to say with the Ork attack these guns are not going to where they should and that's why we must end this threat as soon as possible."The Valhallan officer replied.

"And do we have any intel of the Ork's numbers?" Arban finally asked, there couldn't be more than 300 000 Guardsmen being transported by the fleet, by his highest estimations about a third were from Mechanized or armored regiments and judging the previous reply of the Valhallan the PDF would be severely lacking in mechanized forces. In this case numbers would make the difference in the battlefield.

"Unfortunately no colonel, we can only speculate the rate of the growth of their armies. Time is a luxury that we can't afford to waste." Timoshenko replied dourly.

The rest of the briefing was spent going over the details of the operation, where each regiment would be deployed, their initial operational plan, locations of major supply dumps,critical combat areas and a last minute message informing that the Void Claws chapter was also on the way to relieve the besieged planet. Arban listened patiently, the overall situation didn't looked good for the Imperium, but that would just mean a greater challenge to him and his men because in the end nothing can stand against the will of the Emperor.

* * *

As the briefing ended and the officers filed out of the room Colonel Jugurtha and her command staff made their way through the ominous humming corridors of the ship, the first half of the walk was made in silence as they digested the information presented during the briefing. Unintentionally a serious mood had settled on the group. During their last battle with the Orks a fellow Jahangir regiment had been wiped out while the 664th had lost nearly a third of its fighting strength, including Colonel Vijak, Jugurtha's predecessor.

"I don't see why you're already so worried."Commissar Halanis spoke in cheery tone."Suuuuure, the PDF is having a hard time holding the greenskins, but the PDF would have a hard time holding back a bunch of elderly ladies on their way to the Church." The joke managed to lighten the mood. Colonel Jugurtha laughed too, usually the late Captain Samia would be the one cracking jokes but the bulky woman had been killed during the battle for Kathay City. It was good to see that Halanis had other means to improve the morale besides threats and prayers.

"And we've got the mighty Astartes on the way too, I've never heard of these Void Claws but I'm sure that once they get there we will be fighting to see who can kill more Orks." Major Jamil added.

The group then met the command staff of the 455th Armaggeddon Steel Legion, that shared the same troop compartment with the janissaries, both groups exchanged quick greetings and reached the shared bay in silence. The sight of their officers apparently relaxed and unworried served to lighten the general mood and improve the morale among the 664th. Later Jugurtha would wonder if that was the Commissar's plan all along.

* * *

**Schwezen. Arkantos Hive.**

Corporal Wen lit up another lho-stick, since the Ork invasion begun he had took a liking of it. He was currently enjoying a rare leave from duty in a local bar with filled with other troopers, it wasn't exactly a nice establishment, but it had beer, girls and it was all he could afford. Besides, he had learned to enjoy these little moments of calm between the bloody fight. It had been six months since the Space Hulk crashed in the north of Inglo and the PDF had done nothing but retreat before the green tide. He had lost the count of how many times the commanders had proudly declared that the new defensive line would finally stop the xeno advance only to see it crumble before the sheer numbers of the enemy.

But he wasn't going to get depressed again thinking about all the defeats, destruction and sir!He would spend the night drinking and smoking while he could before the Orks added yet another Hive to their list of conquests. Just after he had finished another bottle of cheap amasec trooper Lek approached him. The poor boy had been drafter by the regiment as soon as they reached the Hive a week ago and was too hopeful for his own sake:

"Have you heard sir?The Guard is going to arrive next week!"The boy chirped.

"They've been saying that for the last three months boy, and for the Throne's sake learn to speak like a goddamn man!"Wen snapped back. The foolish optimism and annoying voice of the boy always got on his nerves.

"But sir,this time they've also said that the marines are coming too!The Emperor's own Angels of Death." Lek continued happily

Wen turned to the other side to ignore the boy and opened a bottle of sukri, a strong local drink.

"As if the Astartes would bother with out miserable little hives." He said in a barely audible whisper.

* * *

And that's it, the start of a new arch.

Warhammer 40 000 belongs to Games Workshop.

Imperial Guard regiments created with 1d4chan's Imperial Guard Regiment Creation Table

Feedback is appreciated.


	7. A pompous display

**Kariasi Crusade**

**Chapter 7**

* * *

**Schwezen. Tuoyan Hive.**

The great parade of the Imperial Guard had just started, and colonel Arban received the honor of leading it,atop his command tank with his upper body out of the hatch. Wearing the Hattian dress uniform: A purple long coat with golden details partially covering an ornate set of carapace armor with the chest laden with medals, a flowing silver cape,a golden helmet with bleached feathers and more silver details and tight green pants with equally flashy boots, but this part was down the hatch and inside the tank. He proudly held the regimental banner in one hand and waved to the crowd with the other. Behind him the companies' captains rode in their own tanks and showed off their own standards, albeit with a slightly less elegant uniform. Behind them a few select tank squadrons of each company followed their commanders up through the route between the hive's primary spaceport and the Governor's Palace.

Colonel Arban himself was beaming with pride. Pride of his perfectly coordinated and uniformed troopers and further fueled by the massive crowd watching the parade on the streets and the many others across the planet surely watching the live transmission. It was during these moments that he was reminded of what one of his old instructors at the Officer's Academy always said: "Sure, gaining glory on the battlefield is good but in the end you must learn that our task is to protect Mankind and not make a name for ourselves." Old Berker was an oddity among the instructors, while others ranted about the natural superiority of the Hattian soldiers over the enemies of Man and the need to achieve glory on the battlefield, Staninslav Berker tried to teach his students that there was more in war than glory. Last time Arban had news of his old teacher he heard that Berker had retired and his sons were in the Navy. Now, looking to the huge crowds gathered around the parade's path he understood what his old tutor meant, the Galaxy was cruel and unforgiving and it was his task to ensure that Mankind survived the attacks of the Alien, the Mutant and the Heretic, just as Him on Terra willed.

Then he noticed that someone had released a pack of cherubs of cherubs in front of the troops, the little things were flying around and dropping flowers on the path before the troops, carrying incense burners and singing praises to the Imperial Guard. The colonel smiled as the cute little things flew above his tank, he always liked the cherubs, something about them always put him at ease and lightened his mood. He wondered if it was their association with the Imperial Cult or the fact that his mother always ensured that their old mansion was filled with them. Maybe both, he thought idly.

Giving a second glance to the crowd he noticed that the population of the planet had features similar to the Attilan Rough Riders he had the displeasure of serving with before being deployed to Arrant Secundus. Savages and rabble all of them, with their uses of course, but their primitive cavalry could never hope to match the efficiency and elegance of the mighty tanks of the Guard. At least he hoped this time that no one would gift him with a cup made of a Tau's skull.

* * *

Two hours after the start of the parade it was finally the Janissaries' turn to march, colonel Jugurtha was still chuckling slightly at the memory of the earlier meeting aboard the Troopship to organize the parade, the Hattian commander almost got into a fistfight with General Timoshenko to decide who would lead the military procession. Usually she would be wary of serving with these glory-hog blueblood officers because they usually worried too much about looking good and too little about fighting, but colonel Arban had proven himself a decent leader on Arrant Secundus and she was willing to give him the benefit of doubt for now.

And finally, after the last elements of the three Valhallan regiments departed the spaceport the Janissaries received the confirmation to proceed. Jugurtha and the other companies' captains riding their modified Chimera APCs followed by infantry squads marching behind their own armored transports and the regiments' techpriests enginseers leading their own groups of servitors, Magos Rigibert, the senior Mechanicum adviser of the regiment, however rode in his own personal vehicle, a modified Salamander Command Vehicle with a more powerful engine, reinforced plating and a Vox-array installed by the Magos himself, besides the captains.

The colonel tugged unintentionally at her collar, she absolutely despised the regiment's dress uniform, but kept her opinions to herself of course. The Commissar would not allow such open disrespect for the Janissarie's colors and the dress uniform was a source of pride for the other officers. The uniform itself consisted of a red turban decorated with the Holy Aquila on the left side and feathers on the right one. An yellow tunic covered with a red sash covered with a few sparse medals and a Imperialis sign, a heavily ornamented golden belt and below the waist, puffy pants (that were actually very tight in the inside) and a pair of shiny boots.

In her opinion the whole outfit was unnecessary, too overly decorated, uncomfortable and pain in the ass to use. During her days in the Jahangir PDF she used to joke that the regiments raised there would probably die of heatstroke long before reaching the enemy if they ever were forced to wear those clothes for something else than parades. Three years later she would find out that she was surprisingly right when, still a lowly NCO, the 664th was ambushed by rebels during a parade in a particularly hot desert world. Nearly 35 soldiers would end up dying due to excessive heat, or by passing out too near the enemy.

Halfway through the procession the 664th reached the area where the flocks of cherubs were flying, dropping flowers, burning incense and singing to elevate the spirits of the troops and civilians. One of the little things even descended to hand her a rose with a gentle smile, whomever made these things did an excellent job programming them. But apparently not all were enjoying the cherubs' display, captain Lakshmi of the 6th company was visibly nervous and stiffing every time one of the little angels hovered near her. Strange, thought the colonel, how could someone get unnerved by cherubs of all things?

* * *

**Arkantos Hive**

Corporal Wen watched the parade with a faked interest, the officers had forced every soldier currently not on active duty to cram into any place with a holipic set to "Watch the Arrival of the Hammer of the Emperor". From what he had heard roughly 300 000 Guardsmen divided into six regiments. How 300 000 outsiders could stop the Ork advance and turn back the tide when the million-strong PDF could only slow them he didn't had any idea. To the corporal, who six months ago was just another manufactorum worker, the Orks had become an unbeatable enemy, able to overrun anything that the PDF could muster. And while many felt that the arrival of the Imperial Guard and the Astartes would be enough to turn the tide, the gruff corporal Wen knew better, the Orks weren't going to be stopped by such meager force.

Suddenly the transmission changed from the well dressed men in tanks to a bunch of women riding APCs followed by groups of cogboys and servitors, those tunics didn't showed much, but with any luck they would battle with tight battle armor like the women in the holopics the men used to watch on their downtime.

Before he could linger anymore on the thought the transmission changed again, this time back to the hard-faced troopers with long coats and fur hats. Apparently these Valhallan regiments and those other mechanized troopers with gasmasks were some sort of specialist Ork-killers. They looked somewhat imposing but there were so few of them to fight so many Greenskins that Wen couldn't understand why everyone else around him was actually thinking that they had any chance of beating back the Orks once and for all. Not that he would talk about that openly anymore, his back was still burning from the "disciplinary measures" applied by captain Moreski when he found the corporal "spreading defeatist propaganda among the troops", the bastard even said something about him being lucky for not getting caught by a Commissar. As far as he was concerned, the Commissar was a fat old man who didn't ventured beyond the upper levels of Tuoyan Hive and sometimes made nonsensical speeches that were more frequent since the invasion started.

Drowning another mug of cheap alcohol, he joined the cheering and singing of the other soldiers and barflies when the captain entered, better not give any more reason for disciplinary measures. Not that it would matter in the end when the Orks overran the planet and mounted his head on a stick. And where were the Marines anyway? For two weeks the arrival of the Emperor's Angels of Death was all that the propaganda talked about and the governor himself had already declared that the Void Claws' Battle Barge was in orbit above the planet

* * *

**Battle Barge _Ripping Void._In orbit above Schwezen **

_Fulkar _(Chapter Master)Heimdall watched intently as more squads of marines entered the Thunderhawks resting on the largest hangar of the ship, sometimes sparing a quick glance to the display showing the parade of the Imperial Guard regiments. The governor had also invited the Void Claws to take part in the procession but Heimdall didn't wanted to suffer any more delays, the Greenskins wouldn't wait while they marched and waved to the crowds. The front was already hard pressed, and last time he heard the Orks were taking ground on Hiusian Hive, the city had become a symbol of resistance and hope to the planet's inhabitants due to being the only place in the northern landmass that managed to hold the Waaagh at bay, and if it fell the morale of the PDF would weaken even more. In his centuries as a marine he learned that people will often cling to any scrap of hope available and that scrap must be preserved at any cost if victory is to be achieved.

That's why he would deploy an entire host (or a company to Codex-compliant chapters) to bolster the defenses of the hive until relief could be arranged. The other two hosts were being held in reserve to wait for the right moment to strike, to Heimdall that moment would be when the Warboss appeared on the front, then, he and his men would strike fast and decapitate the horde with one swift attack. But that depended on convincing the Imperial commanders to follow his plan of action. Usually it wasn't hard to do so the colonels and generals always placed great weight on the advice of an Astartes chapter master. But sometimes there were those commanders who were so sure of their own superiority and infallibility that would probably disobey a direct order from the Emperor Himself if they thought they were right. Then he noticed a servitor coming down the corridor in his way

"The shuttle and your retinue are ready M'Lord." The servitor said in his usual cold, monotone voice. Heimdall nodded, more to himself actually, and made his way to the smaller hangar were the shuttle and his honor guard waited. Time to see if these regimental commanders could be reasoned with

* * *

And here you go, another chapter. Thanks for the reviews, and Some Bloke, please tell me if I got any detail wrong about the Void Claws.

As always Warhammer 40 000 and associated stuff belong to Games Workshop

IG regiments and SM chapters created using 1d4chan creation tables

Feedback is appreciated


	8. First impressions

**Kariasi Crusade**

**Chapter 8**

* * *

**Tuoyan Hive**

General Timoshenko too a moment to enjoy the sweet drink being served by a servitor, a model much more pleasant-looking than those used usually by the Guard or the Navy, probably used by the noble houses to do house work or serving food during parties and meetings. Around him were other Valhallan officers, colonels and majors of the two the other two Valhallan units in the battlegroup and a Munistorum priest. The Hattian colonel and his retinue (that somehow managed to avoid messing up their fancy and complicated uniforms despite riding smoke-belching tanks). The Armmaggedon colonel and his own retinue, that included a Sanctioned Psyker. The Jahangir officers, that actually managed to find enough time to change to their regular uniforms halfway between the great gilded doors of the Palace and the briefing room. And finally the local officers, Governor Sclaffenatus, a tall and slender man wearing a ornate set of robes with his family's symbol proudly and a collection of PDF and Arbites officers, most of them looking like having spent days with no sleep, and considering the situation he was probably right.

The PDF's Commissar was reporting the latest casualty reports in the front compared to the conscription rates when it happened. The doors opened but Timoshenko paid no heed to it, he was too busy reviewing reports on the Ork forces, then he noticed everyone else looking dumbstruck in the direction of the door, he finally turned his head and saw, for the first time in his life, the mighty Adeptus Astartes, he immediately recognized Chapter Master (or Fulkar as the Void Claws called it) Heimdall, clad in terminator armor colored in the colors of the chapter and boasting an impressive red beard with prominent fangs and a bionic left eye. Besides him stood two other marines, also wearing the vaunted terminator armor, one, Timoshenko presumed, was a Librarian due to the psychic hood and staff, but the other was still a mystery.

The governor was the first to regain his composure and while the others were still awe struck by the imposing Astartes, he spread his arms in a sign of greeting and spoke:

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Fulkar Heimdall, he and his marines have mercifully decided to attend to our please of help and shall fight by our side." And as if on cue Heimdall replied, speaking with a deep and booming voice:

"Do not give us too much credit governor, we're just doing our duty, in the Emperor's and Russ' name." The governor nodded weakly and the Astartes made their way to the hololitic display in the middle of the room.

* * *

Colonel Jugurtha couldn't quite believe her eyes. Sure, they knew that the Astartes were coming but seeing three of them in person and so near rather than in propaganda movies and newspics was a completely new experience. Their huge armor only served to further emphasize how big and powerful they were compared with the simple humans of the guard.

With the initial surprise and shock wearing off, the local Commissar (how the PDF managed to resist so far with only a little fat man for a Commissar in the whole planet eluded her) resumed his speech about "the heroic effort and horrendous casualties suffered by the PDF to hold the Orks while reinforcements arrived". At least from what Jugurtha learned in the military briefings and reports the PDF didn't actually held the Orks, it slowed the greenskin advance at a great cost. And from the same reports she could deduce that the local commanders had never fought before, considering the numerous blunders and wasted opportunities during the past six months.

When the Commissar finished his tale, the Steel Legion colonel (that for some reason was still wearing his gas mask) coughed to get everyone's attentions and spoke:

"Commissar, if I understood correctly the bulk of your forces are deployed around this 'Sclaffenatus Line'" He started, indicating the fortified line on the display when the commissar nodded he continued. "But what reserves exactly do you have to plug the breaches in the line when they occur?"

The commissar looked thoughtful for a few moments before the governor replied:

"We have 20 regiments ready to react near Hive Arkantos, 15 near Hive Plyubs and 17 near Hive Orlin." While he spoke an aide pressed some runes and the image focused on the three hives and their troop strengths.

"You've placed too much troops to hold the hives, if the Orks breach the line somewhere else you won't be able to send troops quick enough." Jugurtha pointed out, prompting nods of agreement from the other guard commanders.

"And what's the point of defending the wastes if the hives fall? We don't have enough forces to spread around and protect everything. And even if we did, we still have to focus on defending the hives." A well built and tall man in the PDF's uniform spat back, just as hostile as Jugurtha expected them to be.

"Nevertheless the woman is right."Heimdall said, joining and winning the argument with a sentence."If the Orks are allowed to spread among the wastes their numbers will grow too large and we will have no other choice than performing Exterminatus on this planet." The Astartes finished, leaving the threat hanging in the air.

"What do you suggest then?" The same PDF officer asked, this time much less hostile.

"I suggest that we cut the head of the beast." Heimdall replied calmly."Show the Orks a good fight and attract Warboss Backsmasha, give him a battle that he can't ignore and when he shows his ugly face we will crush him!" The marine finished, almost roaring. The colonel wasn't sure if he noticed the increase in his own voice.

"And without its leader the Waagh will falter and descend into infighting, giving us the chance to counter-attack." The Armmaggedon colonel added.

"And where exactly do you plan to offer this great battle?" One Hattian captain asked.

Instead of replying directly Heimdall turned to General Timoshenko and said:

"What's your opinion general?As the senior guard officer on the planet I shall trust your abilities and experience to work out the details of the plan."

"Well, I-I mean we, no, I suggest that we use Arkantos Hive, it's surrounded by impenetrable mountains and we would be able to funnel the Orks into a bottleneck, if we kill enough of them and offer a particularly stiff resistance the rest will come, and eventually the Warboss himself. We could even try to mount a few counter-attacks in the sector." The general replied, and to his credit he managed to regain his composure rather fast.

* * *

The meeting went on for more three hours, three whole hours going over minor details, supply and morale situation and at least half hour of of useless arguments between the local commissar and his guard counterparts. Not that colonel Arban was particularly upset, as a result of his noble upbringing and academy education he had grown used to long meetings which sometimes actually solved nothing and took twice more time.

Nevertheless things went pretty smooth considering the usual relations between the guard. The Void Claws' support surely helped to tip the balance as no colonial governor, no matter how stuck up and self righteous would dare to argue with one of the Emperor's Angels of Death himself. But what really bothered Arban was that his regiment was denied the glory of taking part in the "Great Trap", apparently his tanks weren't adequate for maneuvers in the hive nor in the surrounding jagged mountains. It was true, but losing the chance to fight in the decisive operation side by side with the mighty marines while they simply held the line in the polluted wastes was unacceptable to the common Hattian soldier. But Arban would not dare to go against the judgement of a Chapter Master.

"So, sir...do you wish to receive the data and maps now?" Asked lieutenant Kar-something, one of the locals assigned as liaison officer to the guard forces. The one assigned to his regiment was surely the stupidest and most annoying individual in the whole planet, and probably a spy answering directly to the governor too.

"Of course I want the maps now, the sooner the better." Arban replied trying to control his tone.

"Right-o sir!" The liaison replied back smiling before speaking through his comm-bead with someone else.

"Say, Karmin, how's the morale of the troops along the line?" Asked Halazin, the regimental commissar, the usually serious man was in an unusually good mood today.

"The soldiers know what is at stake and will not falter sir."The lieutenant replied, beaming with pride.

The commissar stared at him for a few moments and then spoke, still smiling:

"Please lieutenant, lying to a commissar is a serious offense."

Karmin tried to reply but the commissar dismissed him with a wave of his hand. After the officer split from the group to get the necessary maps and other data the commissar addressed the colonel:

"I'm pretty sure that I and my cadets have a lot of work ahead, if-"

"It will be a miracle if you have any remaining bullets to fight the Orks after executing enough cowards to get this underhive scum in fighting shape." Captain Antaeus, of the third company interrupted, and then quickly added as he saw the angry glare of the commissar:"But I'm sure that the foul greenskins will crumble before the fury of our armored assault."

"We shouldn't underestimate the Orks, specially when our only backup are demoralized PDF forces."Said captain Nisov, joining the conversation.

"Are you afraid of a few stupid Xenos Nisov? What are you? A proud Hattian or just a simple peasant?" Joked Arban, eliciting laughter from the other Hattians

"Orks are never few sir, where you see one there are twenty trying to flank you, where they lack in finesse and intelligence they compensate with sheer barbarity and brute force. I'm not afraid of facing the enemy but thinking that it will be an easy fight will just cause more harm to us." Nosiv replied, sounding quite upset. Of all officers under his command Nosiv was the most 'level-headed' and easy to anger.

As the group rounded another corner in the huge palace complex they heard Karmin yelling at a distance, the Hattian turned to see the man running towards them carrying a stack of dataslates and scrolls. Arban gave a small chuckle and shouted back:

"Go on kid!Get these to sergeant Hekatum in the main gates!And get ready!We're leaving at twilight!"

* * *

And yet another chapter. The next one will take a while unfortunately because of school

Feedback and reviews are appreciated

Warhammer 40 000 belongs to Games Workshop


	9. Hold the Line Pt1

**Kariasi Crusade**

**Chapter 9**

* * *

**The Gobi Wastes, Outpost 27**

Colonel Arban poured himself another mug of recaff, or at least what passed as recaff in this miserable and pathetic excuse of planet. He had served in countless battlefields over the years against all matter of Xeno and traitor, but never he had to endure such foul-tasting excuse of drink! If only his private stash hadn't been looted aboard the Purgatus. And it wasn't only Arban that was unhappy with the current state of the beverage supply, the entire officer corps of the Hattian regiment was in a uproar, even the Commissar was a bit more trigger happy than usual (not that it was a bad thing considering the state of the local troops, the natives were in a dire need of the bravery bolter).

Sighing in defeat before taking another swig of the foul liquid (hopefully the governor would receive his message and send some decent recaff soon). He picked up a new message that was just left by a servitor, another report from Commissar Halazin, yet more PDF troopers punished. Arban grimaced as he finished reading the message: Apparently another agitator was caught spreading defeatist propaganda. The man in question was quickly executed and those caught listening to him were condemned to flogging.

He was already fully expecting this kind of situation after the first briefing aboard the Purgatus, what else could happen? How did they expected to hold back the Ork tide with just one Commissar for the whole planet? Lack of discipline and despair were bound to take hold of the conscripted rabble.

His musings were interrupted by Karmin, the liaison officer, storming into the bunker with his face completely drained of color and heading directly to him:

"What now Lieutenant? Did some Commissar threatened you again?" Arban asked suppressing a smirk, a couple days ago one of Halazin's cadets decided to mess with the poor kid and make up a phony regulation to threaten the Lt, Karmin's panic and pleading really brightened Arban's day.

"No Sir, several forward patrols have already stopped reporting while others confirm that the Greenskins are moving in force in our way. ETA six hours" Karmin replied, if it wasn't for the seriousness of the situation Arban would laugh at how fast he blurted the phrase.

"Sound the alarm, gather the officers here ASAP, send a Vox to Air Marshal Maktursh to check the status of our air cover and tell Priest Gillim to increase the sermons." The colonel shouted,standing up and tossing the mug aside and as the lower officers busied themselves to obey he added. "Today you shall see how real soldiers fight! The Green Tide will be stopped here once and for all!"

* * *

**Arkantos Hive**

Sergeant Filov ducked just in time to avoid a bolter round, that hit some poor PDF trooper that was just behind him right in the face, showering the Valhallan NCO with bits of skulls and brain. Too busy to bother with the fact, Filov peeked over the sandbags and fired his lasgun at the coming mob of Orks, hulking green abominations with crude weapons charging through the narrow valley right into the Imperial lines. The first elements of the WAAAGH! had arrived three days ago, and so far the Valhallans had managed to hold the line, but Filov wasn't going to let foolish optimism cloud his mind. He knew fully well from previous experience to realize that when the bulk of the green horde arrived they would be forced to retreat deeper into the Hive.

Ducking once again to avoid another hail of gunfire Filov rose soon after to throw a grenade at the greenskins when he heard lieutenant Gagarin over the comm-bead:

"Be warned troopers!We've got reports of incoming Ork Nobz and aerial units heading to our position!"

And as if on cue, Filov could see the smoke-belching silhouettes of the Orkish flyers in the distance and hear the louder rumble of the guttural war cries of the larger Ork leaders. Hiding behind the sandbags again Filov activated his own comm-bead to his squad's frequency:

"Markov!Hold your fire and wait until the Nobz appear!" The soldier using the plasma gun obeyed and switched to the standard-issue lasgun. With that taken care of Filov switched the frequency once again to the one being used by the local PDF officers:

"Folks, direct your heavy weapons teams to target the enemy Nobz once they get in range!"

Not bothering to wait for the acknowledgment he rose once again and fired another short burst of lasfire at the wave of greenskins already on the verge of crashing against the first trench line, manned solely the PDF. One didn't needed to be a Psyker to know what would happen next. Thankfully the guardsmen acted fast and in no time three flamer-armed troopers from another squad rushed to contain the breach and started shower the trench section with fire. The sergeant winced slightly as the men and Orks inside the trench started to burn. The PDF officers and troopers were already yelling angrily over the sound of the battle.

Thankfully, or not deciding on your point of view, a couple of Ork "_Deffkoptas"_ strafed the forward trench, killing the flamer-troopers and ending the argument. The attack craft was followed by a group of larger Orks wearing more armor and armed with a variety of melee and ranged weapons, the largest Ork of the group started to bark orders at the remaining boyz while the others joined the fray, shouting and yelling battle cries in their own foul language.

To their credit most the PDF heavy weapons teams managed to open fire against the Nobz, with an unsurprising lack of accuracy (but given how closely packed were the Orks they always hit something) while a few others tried in vain to hit the Ork koptas. And as Filov took cover to reload his lasgun he was rewarded with the familiar sound of a plasma discharge and a howl of pain, thankfully Markov had hit the mark.

Filov rose out of cover to fire another burst of lasfire when he noticed that there were many more Orks charging through the valley. The first trench line was being completely overrun while Valhallan guardsmen focused their fire and explosives on the trench, not bothering with the few PDF troopers still struggling to run back to the second line. The sergeant silently thanked the Emperor for the arrival of the Commissar along with several dozen guardsmen and two Hellhounds, hopefully that would be enough to shore up the faltering defense and shut the complaints of the PDF, whose reputation as ablative shielding and speed bump was become even more justified as the skirmish continued. _  
_

* * *

Corporal Yen fell into the trench with a gasp of relief, his ears were still ringing and he could still smell the smoke and flames and his hat was lost in the fighting. He was struggling for breath and trying to get back to his feet when a Valhallan guardsmen roughly pushed him down again and said something that he didn't understood, not that he needed as just moments later a Hellhound crossed the trench, right above them. And just as quick the same trooper roughly grabbed his arm and threw him back to his feet.

Finally managing to regain his composure the Corporal could only watch in horror as the two armored vehicles resumed the purging of the forward trenches and the Orks beyond along with several other Valhallan guardsmen armed with flamers. Now it was clear that whomever hadn't retreated already was either dead or burning. Yen winced, raised his lasgun and started to fire in the mob of Orks, that thanks to the Emperor were too focused with the Hellhounds to bother with the trenches.

Nearby a Valhallan with a plasma gun roared in victory as one of the Nobz fell dead, his head and left shoulder missing. While on the other side a heavy bolter jammed and the operators panicked trying to get the gun back in action as soon as possible. On the no-man's land a Deffkopta tore to pieces a bunch of guardsmen with a strafing run while another tried to hit the Hellhounds.

The corporal found himself whispering the Catechism of Hatred,funny how he always did that when nervous and right now he was on the verge of soiling his pants. Praying always helped him to set his mind at ease but right now he needed something more consistent,not that he would try anything while that dreaded Commissar was still on the field. The guard had brought these dreaded men and women by the dozens with them, and it was quite a shock to the PDF troopers when they started to deal with the "issues of cowardice and reinforce the faith and will of the local soldiers" with complete approval from the planet's higher-ups: Mass executions, creation of penal battalions, flogging, everything was fair game to restore the fighting spirit of the PDF. And where rousing speeches failed, fear and repression did wonders.

Suddenly a Deffkopta got a lucky shot and one of the Hellhounds blew up in an amazing pyrotechnic display

* * *

Commissar Dupont quickly jumped back up, not even bothering to collect his partially scorched hat laying near him, and charged right back into the fray, driving his power sword right into a small opening in the back of a Mega-Armored Nob (probably courtesy of a plasma shot). The large Ork howled in pain and turned to face his new foe just as the Commissar managed to retrieve his blade.

The Ork tried to land a swat with his power klaw at Dupont but he was faster and managed to dodge and gain some distance from the hulking greenskin. Enough to allow one of the troopers back in the trench to take a shot with a heavy bolter and blow away half of its face. To its credit the filthy Xeno still managed to smash two guardsmen stupid enough to not back away before finally dying.

Still three Nobz and those frakking Deffkoptas to deal with, and while Dupont and his men couldn't do much about the enemy flyers the Hellhound and the disciplined fire of the Valhallans were doing enough to keep the Ork tide at bay, albeit barely.

Then, an Ork flyer made another strafing run, missing the Hellhounds but mowing down scores of PDF troopers near the Commissar, the Xeno machine turned to make another run but its rampage was cut short by the arrival of Imperial aircraft, the PDF fighters shot down the enemy flyers with surprising speed and skill and turned away just as fast to support the rest of the Imperial forces spread across the hive and the surrounding mountains.

Finally, Dupont thought, with the damned flyers down they would be able to contain the breach more easily. The Commissar smiled, more to himself as a self-assurance before heading back into the fray, where the last Nob making a mad dash towards the Hellhound, smashing any brave guardsmen who tried to stand in his way. Seeing that actually made the Commissar a little proud to see his men so willingly sacrifice themselves to protect valuable regimental assets. Still, that wasn't enough to stop the Nob and he reached the flames-spewing tank before the Commissar could do anything,being too busy trying to hold back the tide of boyz, that by now had managed to hit the Valhallans with the full brunt of their numbers, forcing them to engage in a costly melee struggle.

The Commissar knew that his men couldn't beat the sheer brute force of the Orks in melee combat, but retreating was out of question: A Commissar does not retreat, his tutors in the Schola drilled that deep in his mind, besides, if they fell back the Hellhound would be swarmed and destroyed, besides seeing a Commissar flee before the Enemies of Men (because to Dupont that and retreating were the same thing) would break what little morale the PDF still was then that Dupont's comm-bead buzzed:

"Commissar!You have to take your men back to the trenches before the Orks overrun you!" He didn't even bothered to reply,he had no time for that given that he was barely holding his own against a single Ork.

And he was so focused on staving off the Ork in front of him that he didn't noticed the other one approaching behind (because Ork boyz don't sneak up on their targets) and could do nothing to stop the Green Xeno from smashing his head with a choppa.

* * *

As soon as he saw the Commissar dead Filov knew that he had to act fast, while his men were trying to hold off the newest batch Ork reinforcements the Valhallans on the no-man's land were being overrun fast and if the Orks got any nearer the PDF would probably break, and he hadn't enough ammunition to stop them. He activated his comm-bead to contact the PDF officers:

"Get some of your heavy weapons firing on that mess between us and the Ork reinforcements!AND WHERE THE HELL IS OUR VOX-CASTER?!" The last bit was actually directed at a nearby Guardsman.

"Simeon is dead sir!" The soldier replied hurriedly before firing again into the mob of Xenos. By now the PDF's heavy weapons were slaughtering what was left of the troops led by the Commissar, Filov absolutely hated sacrificing his fellow Valhallans like some sort of useless cannon fodder, that was the task of the PDF, but he saw no alternative and at least the PDF grunts were managing to hit something.

"And what of the equipment? Can we still use it?" Filov asked and the trooper just shrugged and pointed to where the body of the late Communications Specialist Simeon was laying, further into the trench. Seeing no better alternative than trying to use the possibly destroyed Vox to contact HQ and beg for any kind of support the Sergeant sprinted to retrieve the Vox-Caster, praying all the way for it to be in working condition.

* * *

**The Gobi Wastes, several kilometers north of Outpost 27**

Captain Nisov checked the radar of his command tank for the fifth time since the last wave of Orks was crushed, he knew that it was probably the last of them for now but he wouldn't allow himself to relax just now, he would run one last sweep through the area to finish off any stragglers while his fellow officers were probably already congratulating and patting each others on the back before returning to his camp, a smaller outpost housing just his armored company several kilometers west of Outpost 27, the biggest of the sector. He was still checking the radar when a crewman operating the Vox called:

"Sir!It's the Colonel, he wants casualty reports"

"Tell him that we're still running sweeps on the area and don't have anything concrete _*sigh*_ the PDF took the worst of it and we have at least 12 tanks down, with half being irreparable" Nisov replied tiredly before returning to the radar._Casualties_, he thought,_ I still have to get these reports ready,_ and soon his mind started to wander to the battlefield outside the walls of his tank: Ork bodies and vehicles (some still burning), scraps of metal and of course, his own men and tanks along with whatever those weaklings in the PDF could he silently thanked the Emperor for the fact that most casualties in the Imperial side were from the PDF. Of course, he didn't knew how else the other companies were doing, just that they had apparently beaten back the Orks, but for now he would relish on these small victories._  
_

"Contact every unit and track down casualties, once we finish we will make a last sweep and return to the base." The Captain ordered and in no time the Comm officer was working._  
_

* * *

Sorry for the delay but from now on updates will be sporadic...

Don't own Warhammer 40k


	10. Hold the Line Pt 2

**Kariasi Crusade**

**Chapter 10**

**Hive Plyubs**

Major Jamil felt a little wave of nostalgia watching the PDF troopers during their training drills through the windows of her office in one PDF compound inside the the middle Hive she could see miles and miles into the horizon, past the Hive walls and into the surrounding barren and dusty wasteland where the troops had dug trenches,built bastions and demolished the small shanty towns that had spread like tendrils around the walls since the invasion had started, once filled with scared refugees that were now clogging even more the streets and further straining the Hive's resources. Watching the PDF grunts in the training levels a few floors below, in a probably improvised barracks. She almost imagine an angry drill sergeant yelling at the grunts over the sound of the nearby Manufactorum . Once; years ago she and the other Janissaries were in a similar situation: desperate civilians conscripted to defend their home world from the depredations of the Xeno. Jahangir however, had a proud military tradition of raising Imperial Guard Regiments and wasn't completely unprepared to face the Tau invasion. Schwezen however had no such tradition; even its own garrison of three Imperial Guard regiments had been redeployed years ago to bolster the Crusade frontlines. All the Hive World of Schwezen has are the endless numbers of workers and faith in the God-Emperor.

And faith was beginning to wane among the PDF. Since their arrival the Guard's Commissars had their days filled with beatings, judgments and summary executions, even a few colonels had to be disciplined by the Commissariat. That and the subpar performance that the Guard had witnessed since their arrival did little to improve the opinion that they held of the PDF. Not that the Janissaries didn't understood the situation, after all they had lived through a similar experience but the sheer incompetence of the Schewzen PDF couldn't simply be put into words, after all, it took only three months to lose nearly half of their planet to Orks that landed in a single spot and had to build most of their vehicles after the crash.

But cursing the perceived incompetence of their newfound allies wouldn't give results and now all she could do was prepare her own troops and hope that it would be enough to hold the line. At least they had the advantage of walls, heavy artillery and fortified positions spread among the levels of the Hive.

The Major's musings were interrupted by the sound of her (temporary) office's door opening and Captain Igni, of the 6th Company entering her office and saluting:

"Ah, Captain, report." Jamil ordered

"My company's scouts have located the vanguard of the Ork assault, it seems that a contingent of Xenos is splitting from the main force attacking the main PDF positions on the Sclaffenatus Line and advancing to the Hive itself." The Captain replied

The Major nodded and then looked into a few data slates and scrolls on her table before replying:

"Indeed, that confirms what our orbital readings informed." She started without taking her eyes of a particular message. "It is expected that the main force will arrive in a few days. You are dismissed Captain."

And so the Captain saluted again and left while the Major prepared to call organize one last major briefing between the Janissaries and PDF officers.

* * *

Colonel Hsu looked over the last reports delivered to his table, what caught his eye was the latest one from orbital surveillance, showing a rather large Ork contingent breaking off from the attacks along the Sclaffenatus Line and was apparently moving to attack the Hive. If that assumption was correct then they would only have a few more days to prepare.

Hsu sigknew that this moment would come but could not stop himself from hing at the realization. The Orks had finally arrived on his little corner of Shcwezen and if the last three months were any indication they would drown the Hive under a green storm, sure, his forces had time to prepare and were being supported by five companies of Guardsmen (three from the 664th Jahangir and two from the 927th Armageddon Steel Legion); and the morale of the troops was improving, in equal parts due to the fear and fanaticism evoked by the foreign Commissars. But the Colonel was already convinced that any resistance would be doomed and in the end the Greenskins would triumph over the forces of men. To him the relief force was too little too late.

But that also didn't meant that Colonel Hsu was afraid, he would make the Xeno scum pay dearly for daring to set foot on his Schwezen.

Hsu's pessimist musings were interrupted by the beeping of the comm-link in his table:

"Sir, Major Jamil of the 664th is requesting a full briefing with you and the other PDF officers in three hours in the main chamber, regarding new info on the front." His secretary informed.

Hsu leaned on the table and pressed a button:

"Thank you Xin, I will be there." He replied with forced cheerfulness, he had also been maintaining a façade of hope and determination during the last months for the sake of the morale of his men.

When he was sure that his assistant wasn't listening anymore he sighed again and looked to the wall above the windows behind him, where a portrait of St. Macharius was hanging, his office was lavishly decorated, with statues, luxurious curtains and other paintings but the life-sized painting of Saint Solar Macharius was his favorite piece,a family heirloom passed down through the generations and if the stories were true; acquired by a distant ancestor who fought for the famous commander. What would he do? And why was Hsu bothering to ask? It's not like by thinking hard enough he would manage to devise a flawless plan to drive the Orks back anyway, that was above his capacity.

* * *

Major Jamil and her staff (actually just Captain Igni and Inessa) waited patiently while the elevator arrived, and while she waited the major noticed that she could still faintly hear the sounds of the nearby Manufactorum. Ever since the three Janissary companies had arrived in the city she couldn't remember a single moment in which the large industrial complex wasn't working, the Hive was a noisy place but even the bread riots stopped when the Arbites arrived. The only constant so far was the Manufactorum. It wasn't really strange when she thought about it, even before the endless flow of refugees the Hive had more than enough people to keep it manned the entire day, besides, it was huge, probably bigger than her hometown, so, even if one small part stopped the rest would still be functioning and making enough noise to penetrate the rockrete walls of the compound, furtherore, the Manufactorum was producing military supplies, as far as she was concerned they could chain the workers to the machines and keep them working all day every day. No reason to worry, she thought, she would only be concerned if she couldn't hear the machinery and engines working.

And while she was musing about the nearby industrial complex the elevator finally arrived, and when the large doors decorated with a golden Aquila opened the Jahangir officers were greeted by a Steel Legion lieutenant that promptly saluted them and a commissar with two blood red bionic eyes and a steel plate covering a part of his head while the rest was seriously scarred. Now that's a scary commissar! Jamil thought, and somehow it was even more unnerving when he took off his hat and tried- yes, tried, his scars wouldn't let him- smile at them:

"Ah, Major, good to see you, I believe that this briefing is about the Ork force marching at the Hive it isn't?" The Commissar asked, his voice somewhat metallic, and when Jamil nodded he did the creepy un-smile again.

Without further ado the Janissaries entered the elevator and the rest of the trip passed with a comfortable silence, broken only by the ever present Manufactorum and the Commissar's humming a fold melody. When they arrived in the top floor Jamil remembered to ask if captain Heigel was already preparing the room for the briefing as she had told him to:

"As a matter of fact yes major, he and enginseer Rizul are already there, don't worry, the boy won't screw this up." The Commissar replied trying to smile. Jamil wondered if he knew how his face looked when he tried to do that, maybe no one had told him, being the guy that can execute you and all, or maybe he knew and just did it because he like to make people uncomfortable.

Not that it mattered, it wasn't her problem and she had bigger concerns, like the briefing with the brainless twats of the PDF. She was actually thankful to have a Commissar with them, it would make things so much easier,even if Mr. Scarface had to kill one or two before the rest were convinced to obey her. At least captain Heigel was already there, hopefully wearing that nice skull gas mask to better intimidate their PDF counterparts.

When they passed another set of heavy steel doors guarded by combat servitors she spent a few moments watching the room: it was the first time she had actually entered the main briefing room since the PDF officers preferred to talk in the security of their own offices. The room was large and filled with servitors operating the cogitators, auspexes and other reading instruments. There were also four platforms, one in each corner of the room, with even more servitors and arcane technological devices and finally, a large holo-table surrounded by 30 chairs in the middle of the briefing room, other than that the room was sparsely decorated (unlike the rest of the compound) with a few Aquilas and just that. The first person that major saw was the enginseer, because she almost tripped over him, the cogboy was crouched almost in front of the door working his arcane art on a panel, he didn't even bothered to acknowledge the new arrivals.

Neither did captain Heigel, the man was apparently talking to himself and walking around in circles near the auspex-servitors in one of the platforms, probably rehearsing what he would say in the briefing, great, she had no idea that the Steel Legionnaire had stage fright, and he wasn't even wearing the mask. Well, nothing to do now besides hope for the best and prepare for the worst:

"Captain Heigel! I hope that everything is in order for the briefing!"She shouted to him, and that finally managed to catch his attention as he turned and saluted before going down the small flight of stairs.

"Yes ma'am, Magos Rizul is already giving the final touches and calibrations, everything should be ready in time." The captain replied

As the last PDF officers settled on their chairs around the last central holo-table, Major Jamil spoke:

"Gentlemen, as you already know a large Xeno force has split up from their main army assaulting the Sclaffenatus Line, earlier today my scouts have confirmed that this force is marching to assault this Hive, as highest ranking Imperial Guard officer on this theater I've called this briefing to discuss our defensive preparation. Captain Heigel…." She finished, turning to the Armageddon Captain, which was already pressing buttons on the holo-table, a few seconds later the table sprung to life with a holographic display of the Hive and its surrounding defenses.

"Comrades, as you can see, the Greenskin Horde will arrive from the Northwest." And with that a green blob seeped into the holo-map. "We still don't know the exact composition of this force but we can expect overwhelming numbers and a direct assault, by their current marching speed we expect the main assault in more or less three to four days. Given the condition of the outer line of defenses we expect the troops there to be overwhelmed or forced to retreat in two days at max" and on cue the green blob expanded to cover part of the outer defensive line while the markers indicating the PDF troopers manning it either retreated or were destroyed "The middle defensive line is expected to hold them off for some more time, maybe even force a stalemate and give enough time for the reserve units in the rearguard to mount a counter-attack and encircle the Orks."The green blob then moved to overtake the middle defensive line but it was unable to do so before more Imperial markers appeared on the southern edge of the map and together with the remaining garrison, counter-attacked. however, should the middle line fall and we're forced to retreat to the Hive itself the effectiveness of our companies will be reduced considering that we will not have the necessary space to maneuver our vehicles." Heigel paused to catch his breath and wait the reaction of the other officers.

"If I may ask." started a rather slender and bald PDF Colonel, Hsu, if Jamil remembered correctly. "How can you support these affirmations if there's so little information about the Ork army advancing upon us?"

A fair question, the Major thought, she waited for the captain to reply: "While we have few information about this particular do not forget that both my and major Verst' forces have experience in dealing with Orks, furthermore, these claims are supported by the logis engine in possession of the enginseers of my regiment and while these estimations aren't accurate they are the best thing we have to prepare for the onslaught of the next days. And I'm sure that I don't need to remind you all that the battle is going to be hard and bloody but it's our duty to the Almighty Emperor of Mankind to hold the line and grind these green heathens into paste."

"But why aren't we going to try to hold the outer line?Move more troops to the line make them pay for every step of ground?"Another PDF officer asked, eliciting a few nods of approval from the others. Of course, Captain Jieng wouldn't simply accept things quietly, just because he had bought his position into the PDF he thought he knew anything about fighting. She would deal with him herself:

"Because it can't be done, if we commit our reserves to the outer line they will be encircled and destroyed when the Orks breach it, and don't be mistaken, the line will break, it's simply too large and undermanned and reinforcing it will do no good when your troops don't have the necessary vehicles nor the ability and morale for a quick withdraw. Besides, the line is simply too far to be effectively protected by our artillery. I don't know who had the idea but this line is an example of what shouldn't be done when fortifying a position: the trenches are shoddy and shallow and there are too few heavy weapons. When the Orks hit they will breach the line and the troops that held out will simply be encircled and destroyed. As a matter of fact, I would advise a total withdraw from this disaster in the making, leave behind a few rearguard platoons and booby-trap the whole network, unfortunately we don't have time, explosives or specialists in enough numbers to do so."

"So you're just going to let my men die for nothing?Why not evacuate the whole line if it's such a disaster in the making?" A third officer asked, if Jamil remembered correctly he was deployed to the outer line. She could tell that he was scared.

"Because with our current resources we won't be able to finish before the Orks arrive. If we do that then the Orks will hit us in the middle of the process and the line will surely collapse, so it's better to leave things as they are and hope that you and your men take a few Orks with you. If I had arrived here earlier I would have dealt with this but now we simply don't have the time. " Jamil replied

"And what gives you the authority to dictate where we will be slaughtered?You're a mere major!Colonel Hsu is the highest ranking officer here!He should be directing the defense not you-" The officer's panicked outburst was interrupted by the Armageddon Commissar:

"Major Jamil is an Imperial Guard officer, she outranks you all, is far more experienced in dealing with such matters. And as such it's my duty as a Imperial Commissar to ensure that the chain of command is respected. Furthermore, I will not tolerate any further talk about retreat, it has already been established that the best option for you and your men is to maintain your positions and sacrifice themselves for the glory of the Imperium, if you insist on discussing the issue I will be forced to act." The Commissar finished placing his hand on the bolt pistol's grip and giving another of his un-smiles,and for once Jamil was glad to see it.

* * *

Sergeant Ulin of the 644th Jahangir Mechanized Janissaries had finally managed to make her way back to the company's barracks. A small miracle considering the fact that the Hive's architecture was extremely confusing and the streets were clogged with refugees and beggars (the uniform helped to ward off most of them but she still had to hand over a few golden thrones to get rid of the most persistent ones and she was sure that a few pickpockets had taken advantage of her troopers inebriated state). After passing through the sentries she led her drunker squad mates to the bunks before heading to the captain's office to file a report confirming the return of her squad and their readiness status. As she walked through the corridors reminiscing about her bad luck (first leave in almost seven months and the commander decides to sound a red alert and recall everyone before she can stop 'babysitting' her troops and enjoy some drinks) the loud siren that had been blaring through the whole city paused and was replaced by a robotic voice announcing:

"Citizens of Hive Plyubs, it has been confirmed that our fair city will come under attack from the foul Xeno scum in the next days and because of that the ruling council has agreed to hand over power to competent military authorities and declare martial law until the threat presented by the foul Greenskin horde has passed. Don't worry loyal citizens for the Emperor is with us and with Him as our guide we cannot fail." and with that the announcement started to repeat itself.

"It was about damn time..."Ulin said to himself, she was looking forward to facing the Orks, turning them into green paste and avenging the debacle of Ymir IV.

Ulin finally reached the office's door and after knocking twice before captain Inessa told her to come in. The sergeant entered, saluted and then spoke:

"Sergeant Ulin Mer, 4th squad, 3rd platoon, 6th Company reporting madam, we've returned as requested and the troops are resting for tomorrow's drills."

Captain Inessa, that was sitting on her chair and reviewing some reports handed her a file and said:

"At ease sergeant, you know the drill: fill the file, return it to me and make sure your girls aren't to hungover to fight, the main force will arrive in three days but we may end up dealing with scouts and infiltrators before." Ulin nodded, saluted and left.

Actually she didn't go far. Just outside the office she pressed the file against the wall and started searching her pockets for a pen or something like that. When she finally found it she started to write down with the practice acquired from years of doing basically the same thing again and again, the only changes were when a soldier was replaced (sometimes she still writes down the name of a trooper who's already dead, especially if they had been serving together for a long time), and if she writes something that is wrong and can't be erased then she will have to fill another file to request a new file, and Emperor forbid if her squad damages one of the heavy weapons such as the lascannon or plasma guns assigned to them. Funny how the recruiters conveniently leave that part of the life in Imperial Guard out of their speeches.

"You makin' that fache again sarge." Ulin turned, startled, to see trooper Jamanta leaning on a dragon statue near the wall, another strange thing about the planets and it's inhabitants was their apparent obsession with dragons and all kinds of lizards, the PDF compound serving as their barracks was littered with such iconography, well, at least the lizard vermin snacks were tasty.

"And you're supposed to be sleeping trooper, you're drunk and you need rest for the coming battle." The sergeant replied scowling. The drunken trooper seemed unfazed.

"No, you can't get angry with me-_hic-_I'm like you little shister and you makin' that depresshed fache, I told-_hic-_ I told you to get drunk with ush." Jamanta replied with a stupid grin. Ulin sighed in defeat, there was no point in getting angry now, and the rest of the squad was probably equally restless, and truth be said, Jamanta was the oldest and most experienced soldier currently in the squad and unofficial second in command, and while comparing their relationship to that of sisters was too much they were indeed close friends. Tomorrow of course, they would be punished, forced march and church services would probably be enough to discipline the rowdy troopers.

"No you're not, I don't even like you that much, your accent is awful and it gets worse when you're drunk." Ulin replied before turning away to deliver the file to the captain."And stay where you are trooper!I'm not finished with you." She added, although it wasn't probably necessary, Jamanta was already having trouble standing even with the support of the statue meaning that she would have to drag her back to the bunks.

Thanks to the God-Emperor there were no further incidents and the sergeant managed to deliver the file to the captain and drag the drunk trooper back to the bunks, where, just as she expected, her squad wasn't sleeping but had split up and were busy fraternizing (that's another word for gambling) and bothering the rest of the platoon's squads and bar the odd half drunken trooper it was her squad that was causing most of the ruckus.

"Alright...don't panic." Ulin told herself."Just control your troopers before the lieutenant arrives." She then looked to the wall looking for a clock to judge how many time before lieutenant Juri arrived, if Ulin knew the lieutenant well, and she was sure she knew. The officer would not tolerate druken troopers right before a major engagement. Great! It was a Schwezan clock and she had no idea how to read it! Without many options she dragged the still protesting Jamanta to her bunk before storming off to do some damage control.

Troopers Rajiv and Varana were playing cards with the grunts of another squad and after some light threats returned to their bunks without incident. Trooper Inassa was about arguing with sergeant Miana and had to be forcefully dragged away. Trooper Yana was listing a series of lewd acts she always wished to enact with the brother of another trooper that was on the verge of strangling her drunken colleague, Ulin managed to drag her subordinate away before things got out of control and made a mental note to send Yana to the confessor as soon as possible. And finally, trooper Enai had already passed away among a circle of soldiers playing dices, needless to say she didn't resisted being dragged to her bunk.

And just in time, right as Ulin sat down on an empty bunk the lieutenant practically kicked the door open and entered the room scowling, as always. The soldiers still wake stood up and saluted and then Juri barked:

"All right ladies!LIGHTS OFF AT ONCE!I expect every single one of you ready and healthy tomorrow!The Greenskins will be here soon and God-Emperor help me if I notice that any of you got a hangover! I don't want a repeat of Ymir IV!"And with that she practically smashed the panel near the door, turning off the lights before adding:"And for the Emperor's sake! I can smell the amasec from here!"

* * *

And that's it, a new chapter.

Warhammer 40k is property of Games Workshop.

Original Imperial Guard Regiments created using 1d4chan Regimental creation tables. On a related note I recently also found another background generator on .

And of course, many thanks to Panopticon for helping me write this chapter and flesh out the history.


	11. Hold the Line Pt 3

**Kariasi Crusade**

**Chapter 11**

**Hive Plyubs - One day after the start of the Ork assault**

It was happening just as expected, the Orks had hit the outer line yesterday and save for a few desperate, holdouts that would probably fall by nightfall, had overrun it completely. Right now Major Jamil could see the unfolding battle on the holo-table along with other senior PDF officers and listen to the Hive's defense guns firing endlessly on the advancing greenskin horde (drowning even the sounds of the nearby Manufactorum) while aids and messenger-servitors rushed in and out of the room. By the current estimations the brunt of Orks would reach the middle line in a couple hours. Thankfully the troops there had more time to prepare and the five mechanized companies of the Imperial Guard were ready to contain any breach, hopefully it would be enough to hold the line until the counter-attack.

But the Orks weren't the only concern of Plyubs' defenders, the horde of refugees that had been steadily arriving since the invasion started, was starting to panic. Once the news leaked that the outer line had been broken (If only she knew who was responsible to execute the bastard) panicked riots had broken out, hordes of refugees trying to open the gates and flee or go deep into the Hive, so far the Arbites had been able to contain these riots, but now every Vox station not transmitting for the military was filled with propaganda and priests chanting litanies. Of course...some of the outer precincts had a clear view of the battle unfolding in the Hive's surroundings, but the Arbites and PDF reserves were busy evacuating these areas.

On the bright side the Orks had so far not deployed anything heavier than a wartrukk, lacking even heavy artillery of any sort. And Jamil doubted that the green scum was smart enough to hide their biggest and shiniest weapons to lull the Imperial forces into a false sense of security.

"Another riot was quelled by the Arbites near one of the water recycling plants in the lower Hive, they're proud to report that the last rebels are being hunted down and no damage was done to the plant." Colonel Hsu said suddenly, reading from a data-slate.

Jamil nodded as she picked up a note brought by an aid, that said exactly the same thing. She didn't even bothered to show her frustration, there was no point in that. It was to late to organized an unified communication system between the PDF and the Guard. And she wasn't sure that she wanted that, after all, the PDF tended to be more cooperative when they didn't knew they were being used as bait or that they weren't getting any more support because they weren't expected to survive.

* * *

Sergeant Ulin checked if the power cell was properly attached to her lasgun for the tenth time in the last minute, since the Orks had arrived yesterday the entire company had been redeployed in the outskirts of the Hive, just out of the massive rockrete wall surrounding the mega-city. Gone was the (relative) comfort of a barrack's bunk, replaced by the familiar sleeping bag over a dusty and hard ground. Not that they had done much sleeping either, after all how could they? Last time they faced the Orks the regiment barely managed to survive enough to board the evacuation shuttles, and even then leaving behind the 473th Jahangir Foot Janissaries and a few thousands of their own troopers to gain time for the evacuation (not counting the dead and wounded). She could see the fear, apprehension and the righteous rage, all boiling inside the Janissaries. She just had to ensure that only the last emotion remained by the time her squad was deployed to the front.

Thankfully, the dragon statues mounted on the wall were all broadcasting a multitude of litanies and prayers and were doing a great job in fortifying their resolve.

"Hey, sharge, wanna a sip?" It was trooper Jamanta, offering her a mug of steaming recaf (courtesy of a small fire camp started by trooper Varana).

Ulin nodded and took the mug, taking her time to savor the Munistorum-issued drink. It wasn't the best, far from it, but she was already used to the taste. Besides, it was good to clear her throat from the dust. She handed the mug back to Jamanta and said aloud:

"You all realize our luck two days ago right?" That managed to catch the attention of almost the entire squad, except trooper Yana that had been reciting every prayer, litany and catechism of her Uplifting Primer and the Book of Janissar (the last one was issued to every soldier of Jahangir and was written by the greatest military mind of the planet, General Ibin Janissar.).

"No, really, the lieutenant was surprisingly easy on us in the morning after." Ulin continued, giving her troops the time to think about it. And it was true, lieutenant Juri was unusually soft when dealing with the hungover soldiers of the platoon. Of course, it was probably because she didn't wanted tired and weary troopers for the coming battle. But in the previous day Ulin had thought about another explanation, one that would be better to reinforce the spirit of her squad:

"And you know why?Because the Emperor is with us, I mean, He's always with us of course. But this is a special case!We're the only hope this sorry wasted planet has to withstand the Orks. The PDF here is completely incapable of doing anything right and so it fall to each one of us to hold off and beat the green scum back!"

The troopers nodded and Varana added:

"And it's the least we can do, this is our chance to avenge Ymir IV and erase that stain from our regiment's history!". That was good, Ulin thought, that was the attitude she was trying to incite.

"Exactly!"The sergeant replied."We're going to be called up at any minute, and I'm sure that we're going to kick some green asses and save this strange, dusty and overcrowded piece of rock. Frak!I bet we will even teach the Steel Legion a thing or two about killing Orks!" It was working, the troopers were nodding and adding their own remarks to her little speech, even the nearby squads were joining in.

"Let the greenskins come!" Yana shouted, finally putting the book away." We're going to make new boots out of their ugly faces!" And with that the troopers roared and cheered.

When the cheering died down a little the Lt. emerged from her command tent and shouted:

"Good to see that the ladies are in good mood!The Orks have broken through and we're going to plug the breach! Get your asses on the Chimeras ASAP!"

Ulin threw a handful of sand on the fire camp and along with the rest of the squad started to run to their assigned Chimera. On the way she noticed that the intensity of the barrage had increased and that she could also see the explosions in the horizon, thanks to the entirely featureless and plain terrain of this region of the planet.

As they rushed in and settled down Ulin glanced one last time to the company's camp before the ramp closed and the Chimera's machine spirit woke up to take them to battle. She looked to the rows of small tents and extincted camp fires and swore to herself and the Immortal Emperor that she and her girls would return after the battle alive and well to sleep on the hard ground, eat bland rations and drink bad recaff.

* * *

Despite everything the trip to the breach was quiet. Neither Ulin or her squad dared to speak up, the only sounds coming from the bombardment and the Chimera's engine, each minute that passed the thunder of the guns grew louder and the sounds of fighting clearer. After half an hour or so the vehicle commander, Jamukha, finally spoke:

"Get ready ladies, we're getting into effective range!" Indeed, the sounds of the bombardment were much louder and Ulin could also listen to the sounds of the battle between the Orks and PDF.

"Ulena!" Jamukha shouted to the Chimera gunner operating the hull-mounted heavy bolter."Fire at will!" And with that the Chimera's guns started to contribute to the noise of the battle. Ulin could also hear the rest of the platoon's APCs firing their own weapons.

"Listen up ladies!"Ulin shouted."Once that ramp goes down you will look for cover and shoot every frakking Ork! Understood?"

She received a series of enthusiastic nods and then Jamukha shouted.

"Alright sergeant!Get your girls ready to drop NOW!"And with that the ramp opened and Ulin rushed outside, followed by her squad.

Ulin was to get into firing position, behind a small rock (forcing her to lay down) on the left side of the Chimera. There was little cover available and so some troopers were using the Chimeras themselves but even then space was limited. Vanara, Jamantha, Inessa and Rajiv were clutched on the flanks of the Chimera while Enai had managed to find a slightly larger rock. They were all firing at the green mob advancing from the breach.

The platoon had been the first to arrive to contain the breach. Luckily the Orks had refrained from taking advantage of it by bringing their full numbers to bear on the opening preferring instead to simply continue the bloody melee with the PDF. So far only small groups of Orks (some of which had been already dealt with on the way by the Chimera's heavy weapons) had decided to disengage and advance further, that probably meant that this particular force lacked coordination between different units. And speaking of coordination and planning, so far all they did was rush headlong into the trench lines and while this tactic worked against the Schwezen PDF sergeant Ulin was determined to show that they would have to bleed much more if they wanted to pass by the Janissaries. The position taken by her platoon was some two hundred or so meters from a charging mob of greenskins, and further behind them, maybe another two or three hundred meters, was the last trench of the middle line. (The line itself had three rows of trenches supported by bunkers and Imperial bastions).

Apparently the arrival of the Janissaries and their APCs caught the attention of the Orks as more and more of them rushed over to join the mob charging the mechanized platoon. The troopers met the Orks with hails of lasfire and heavy bolter rounds, the greenskins were content with living up to the stereotype of terrible shooters and howl their unholy war cries at the top of their alien lungs.

Suddenly the comm-bead gained life with the voice of lieutenant Juri:

"Get these flamers and grenade launchers ready ladies!These green bastards are getting close." Indeed, Ulin thought a little worried, they were. No matter how many were felled by accurate lasfire or dismembered by bolter shells there seemed to be no end to their numbers, and had the sergeant time to look beyond her targets she would also see that the Orks were easily smashing the unfortunate PDF troopers in the three trench lines, expanding the breach and freeing up more of them to look for a better challenge, namely the Janissaries.

Ulin aimed right between a large Ork's eyes before pulling the trigger and nothing happening besides that damned _click_ of an empty power cell. While she was reaching quickly into one pouch to get another power cell a bolter shell hit dangerously close, in the rock she was using as cover to be exact. As a result she got her arms lower face scrapped by shrapnel. Ignoring the pain she grabbed another power cell and slammed it in place, not even bothering to collect the empty one. Saying to herself that she would do that once her life wasn't in risk anymore.

There was no denying now, if the Orks were close enough to hit things they needed to fall back. What was the major thinking? A single platoon wouldn't be enough to plug the breach, they needed reinforcements! On the Chimera to her left side an Ork got a lucky shot on the troops taking cover behind the APC, the crouched Guard got hit right in the head and trooper behind her was close enough to be hit by the detonation and the high-velocity shrapnel, she fell to the ground howling in pain and clutching her waist. Not that Ulin was paying attention to that, she was busy shooting off some Orks.

"FLAMES AND GRENADES!SCORCH THESE GREEN BASTARDS!"The lieutenant yelled through the comm-channel. Mere moments after the hull-mounted and hand-held flamers released a curtain of fire followed by the grenade launchers throwing their own payload.

While the front ranks of the mob were torched by Holy Promethium and the rest was thrown in the air like dolls by the grenades some Janissaries held their fire, a wall of flames and smoke blocked their view and they didn't wanted to waste their ammo, though none of the Chimeras stopped firing. Neither did sergeant Ulin, instead she switched to full auto fire and kept the barrage. Doubts and worries forgotten, replaced by anger and that righteous desire for revenge.

When the flamers stopped and the smoke dissipated the Janissaries cheered at the sight: The damned Greenskins maimed and burned in a glorious tribute to the glory of the God-Emperor and the skill of the Imperial Guard. Further in the trenches even more Orks had been attracted by their skirmish with the Janissars and were now charging again (the damage was done however, almost five hundred meters wide to be exact while more and more Greenskins appeared on the horizon) . This time however they weren't even attacking as a simple mob but smaller groups apparently trying to outrace each other into the fight. Let them come, Ulin thought, we aren't giving a step.

"Still trying you Green skinned abominations?"Trooper Yana shouted from behind the Chimera while reloading."That's alright!I still need those boots!"

"Reload and fire at will ladies! Third and sixth platoons will be arriving soon and then we're going to retake those trenches and hold them until those bullet catchers of the PDF arrive to relieve us." The lieutenant said over the comm-bead as Ulin shot the same Ork in the chest for the third time, she had to admit, they were tough.

* * *

Colonel Hsu switched the frequency and spoke into the Vox-horn:

"Captain Grimaldus, this is the colonel,get your company ready to move at once. Go to sector 15-B and relieve the Guard forces fighting to plug the breach, do you understand?"

"Sir yes sir!"The captain replied and Hsu put down the Vox-horn back on the table to review more reports, the worst riots had been put down brutally by the Arbites and a modicum of peace had returned to the Hive. That meant that more of his troops would be free to be thrown into the nascent meat grinder in the middle line. There, over the course of four days, the Orks had already achieved seven different breaches (not counting the times the Guard forces threw the Orks back only to see them break the line again when the PDF was unable to hold them back alone) and of the seven one still hadn't been contained. Grimaldus' company was being sent to reinforce two other PDF companies Armageddon Steel Legion forces that had been struggling to contain the remaining breach that was still slowly growing as the Orks spread among the trenches, at this moment the last reports told of almost a kilometer wide hole in their lines.

Of course, just because there was currently only one (albeit huge) breach it didn't meant that the situation elsewhere was good. The Orks were still attacking all over the front in ever greater numbers, when a sector experienced a lull in the fight another two or three were stormed by savage greenskins climbing over mountains of their own dead to reach the Imperial lines. The Hive's defense guns, one of the defender's major assets, had been working endlessly for days now, several had been forced to stop due to overheating and to replace partially melted barrels.

Even those arrogant bastards of the Guard with their Commissars and mechanized platoons hadn't been enough, right now three Janissaries platoons, of what was once a whole company, were tied up with remnants of six different PDF companies holding off an Ork attack because the greenskins had yet to stop their attacks on the sector since they attained a temporary breach there four days ago.

"Colonel, I will be redirecting three batteries to fire on sector 21-B and other three to sector 12-B, and I need more of your troops to for sector 13-B." Major Jamil said from the other side of the table, Hsu wanted to protest but even being technically of superior rank the fact that she was from the Guard apparently made her a better commander in the eyes of the Imperium. To Hsu's surprise lieutenant Sharaz had the guts to doubt the major's decision:

"But ma'am, if we do that we would have to redirect fire from one of the sectors under attack to..."The lieutenant gave a short pause to look over a dasta-slate."Waste our ammo on a sector where the Orks are quiet!Are you insane?!" The last part really surprised Hsu, if the Commissar wasn't on the front leading the Steel Legionnaires the colonel was sure that he would execute the Lt.

"Exactly, the Orks are quiet there and if you haven't realized yet, that means that they're gathering their strength for a determined push, by focusing some of our artillery there we will disrupt the Greenskins and maybe even gain enough time for your 142th company to finally arrive there." The major replied calmly."And I would refrain from any more insults_ lieutenant, _or I will shoot you myself for insurbodination." And with that she picked a comm-link to contact the officer in charge of the artillery and transmit her orders.

Meanwhile Sharaz was staring at him with a face that probably was trying to say _can you believe this?!._ Hsu just shrugged and returned to his reports, there wasn't really anything else he could do anyway.

"Don't worry sir."One of his aides said, the one he wasn't able to recall the name. "We just need to hold on for a couple days before the counter-attack starts and the Orks are driven back."

Hsu really wanted to believe that.

* * *

**Five days after the start of Ork assault**

It had been four days since her platoon left the company's camp to plug a breach in the line and they hadn't returned yet, instead they had been forced to hold the line along with the PDF because the Orks hadn't stopped their attack for more than a couple of hours during this whole time. Eventually the entire company was forced to deploy in the sector along with countless PDF units, that tended to take hours to arrive just to be decimated in a few minutes once the bullets started flying.

Right now it was one of those cursed hours in which the Orks ceased their attacks to prepare for a big push. These hours were cursed, at least to sergeant Ulin, because no matter what she did or how much she tried to busy herself, she would eventually end up thinking about the current situation. Calling it bad would the same as saying that the Warp might be dangerous.

The main problem of course was the horde of savage green Xenos that appeared endless, the field was literally covered with the bodies of Orks and the wrecks of their crude vehicles for hundreds of meters in every direction. Of course, she couldn't forget about the smaller and ones, they would sneak through the bodies of their larger cousins and slit the throat of a distracted trooper. Because of that Captain Inessa had organized groups to torch the bodies during the scant hours of peace, but they usually hand't enough time to take care of those too far from the trenches. The other major problem was the PDF (of course). Six companies had already been decimated in just four days. It had become some sort of routine: A PDF company would arrive, be decimated and then High command would send another and the process would be repeated. But if the flaws of their local allies resumed only to poor fighting capacity Ulin could understand. The PDF officers were determined to make things hard, refusing to cooperate, attend to the briefings called by captain Inessa, they even refused share intelligence and supplies. Ulin wasn't ashamed to say that she was happy to see the captain take matters into her own hands and execute a bunch of them. 'Just because there are no Commissars here it doesn't mean that I will let discipline and order crumble here!" The captain declared through the Vox, over the still warm bodies of the guilty officers, she had also announced that the Janissaries's sergeants and lieutenants were allowed to shoot the PDF soldiers if they tried to retreat. All approved by Major Jamil and colonel Hsu of course. And then there was the stench: a mix of sweat, blood, smoke, ozone, bodily fluids and excrement.

"It all seemed so simple back in the camp, get here, plug the breach and let the PDF handle the rest." Trooper Yana said with her a mix of sadness and frustration in her voice.

"These frakkheads can't even handle their own asses, if it was my decision we would pull out and burn the whole planet from orbit, I'm sure that the Astartes' ship has enough ordinance to blow this damned rock ten times over!" Trooper Varana replied bitterly before leaning back on the flak-boards covering the dug-out walls.

"The Manufactorums here are too important to lose, and what are the lives of a few Guardsmen if our sacrifice is going to ensure that these factories are going to keep pumping guns and supplies?" Trooper Rajiv joined the conversation from the other side of the dug-out currently being occupied by her squad.

"So you're saying that a bunch of factories are worth our lives?" Varana asked angrily and before the two could further extend their argument Ulin decided to step in:

"Drop it! Regardless of what we think that's exactly what our commanders think and I don't care if you think that it's a repeat of Ymir IV. Personally I would rather see every single one of us dead before giving up this planet. The Emperor expect nothing less of us!" Rajiv returned to her book while Varana looked ready to reply but the sergeant managed to stare down the trooper with a stitched cheek and a swollen left eye, result of an all too common brawl between the Guard and PDF.

Ulin sighed and ran a hand through her dirty and sweaty hair. The stress was affecting her, it shouldn't be, she wasn't some rookie PDF grunt that had never held a gun. She had almost fifteen years of battlefield experience, she needed to set an example to her remaining troopers if they were to have any chance of surviving the Ork onslaught. The sergeant had lived enough to know that even when things seemed grim and dark there was always the chance that the Immortal Emperor would smile upon his servants and she would cling up to that hope. The colonel would come with the rest of the regiment to drive the Orks back and then they would retake the planet. She snorted involuntarily, not even herself believed that it would be that easy.

Varana looked at her as if to ask what that was about when suddenly the artillery got really close.

"Do you think we should worry?" Rajiv asked, putting the Uplifting Primer down.

"I don't think so, if the Orks were attacking the alarm would be on. The guns are probably trying to disrupt them before they can gather their forces."Ulin replied, and for once she really believed that.

* * *

**Tuoyan Hive **

Governor Sclaffenatus knew, or a at least a small part of him did, that things would end up like that. According to the latest orbital and aerial reports the Orks had begun to dig in on the half of the planet that they conquered. The humans that weren't killed in the initial slaughter were now enslaved and working to supply the Ork war machine. The Astartes commander and the Valhallan general were quite clear of what their options were when that happened: It would be too costly to retake the whole planet and the Crusade High Command (Warmaster Buratin included) were demanding that his planet resumed its shipments to the front at once and the redeployment of the Imperial Guard to more 'important fronts', lest something awful happen to him and his dynasty. As much as he wanted to deny there was only one clear course of action to take that could salvage the situation: Half of Schwezen would burn.

Of course, the usual Exterminatus process wouldn't do as it would destroy the whole planet and the action would kill his popular support, but then again, it was either that or lose the whole planet. He would have to contact the Void Claws and plan the operation carefully to ensure the minimal destruction of the areas still under control of the Imperium. He also needed to act fast before the Orks gained even more ground.

"I wonder how history will remember me after all this..."He wondered aloud to the statues of saints and dragons decorating the walls and roof. Sclaffenatus often did that in the privacy of his luxurious and large palatial office, it helped him to think and put his thoughts in order, just like a cold glass of amasec and a good cigar as a matter of fact. The governor could use a cigar and a drink right now.

"Servitor, cigars and a drink please." He ordered and his personal servitor, a gift from an offworld relative, obeyed with the usual speed and efficiency.

After he finished his second cigar and third glass of the deliciously cold imported amasec the comm-link on his table, made of real wood and richly decorated with engravings of dragons and angels. He pressed a button to accept the call and his assistant immediately spoke:

"Good news Your Highness, we've managed to contact Fulkar Heimdall, he has graciously accepted your request and is ready to talk."

"Very well, transfer him to my office." Sclaffenatus replied to his yes-man, stood up and walked to the (also richly decorated) vid-comm set mounted on the wall between the statues of St. Macharius and St. Diego, the Blind, after reciting the proper litanies and pressing the buttons in the right order the image of the Chapter Master appeared on the screen, no less threatening than the last time they met in person.

"Governor Sclaffenatus, I was told you had urgent matters to talk with me, please be fast. Things here in Arkantos are interesting." The hulking superhuman finished with a hint of amusement.

"Due to circumstances beyond my control I'm forced to ask for your support in purging the planet of the Orks once and for all, by purging the occupied areas with your battle barge." The governor replied curtly

The Marine's expression turned serious before he spoke:

"I was anticipating this, if our reports are correct the Orks have begun to dig in, and the political pressure for you to end the campaign as soon as possible must be overwhelming..."

"Yes, you got everything right." Sclaffenatus replied dropping the facade and letting the defeat seep into his voice.

"Very well, I will enter in contact with the _Ripping Void_, I presume that General Timoshenko is aware of your plan?"

"I will contact him soon after we're finished." The governor replied, before Heimdall could say something, he turned his head to listen to someone and replied something that the microphone didn't caught, then he turned back and said:

"Sorry governor, my presence is needed on the front." And with that the transmission was cut.

Sclaffenatus sighed and walked back to his table. There he called his assistant through the comm-link:

"Get me in contact with Timoshenko at once." The assistant replied with an acknoledgement that the governor didn't bothered to listen as he was already lighting another cigar while the servitor refilled his glass.

* * *

**Hive Plyubs - Seven days after the start of the Ork assault**

Sergeant Ulin cursed as an Ork missile destroyed one of the Chimeras providing fire support from behind the trenches, it was the second one just today. At this rate they would soon be left without anymore APCs, that's because a dozen or so had to be sent back to the camp to get supplies thanks to the PDF, that refused to send their supply trucks to sectors under attack, and considering that they had spent the last five days almost under constant attack... An Ork round then blew off the left arm of an unlucky PDF trooper on the right said of the sergeant and she silently thanked the Emperor for the fact that the idiot was tall and presented a bigger target than her.

While the poor PDF trooper bled to death on the trench floor the sergeant was already shooting the lucky Ork, that had stopped for a moment to celebrate his kill with a bestial howl that turned into one of pain once the laser beam connected with his head. Of course, the frakking greenskin didn't died with just that and just resumed his charge with a chunk of his head missing. Thankfully, the next shot hit him right in the exposed brain, which was enough to fell the beast. But it was just one Greenskin out of hundreds and his friends were still sweeping forward like a tidal wave.

The dusty ground beyond the first trench was already covered with maimed bodies, blood and body parts, the concentration grew exponentially with the proximity of the trench eventually stopping near the half-ruined razor wire, that had been torn down by the Orks so many times that the captain had given up on having it repaired after every attack. They never managed to finish it before the next attack anyway.

Ulin fired again and again, the Orks were kind enough to charge in a single big group and it was only a matter of aiming high enough and she would hit something in the head. In fact, there were so many that even the PDF grunts were managing to kill some Orks on their own. However even with the considerable volume of fire coming from the three lines of trenches the green brutes always managed to get dangerously near. Usually, when that happened it was time to use the grenades and flamers (some areas were initially mined by the troops but the mines ran out too soon) and that would be enough to hold back the Xeno scum, but sometimes that wasn't enough and a bloody close quarters combat ensued and the casualties skyrocketed. It would be safer to just flood the trenches with promethium and grenades but they had to make what supplies they had last.

That was exactly how Varana had died yesterday, when the Orks managed to jump not only into the first, but also the second trench and it seemed that the line would finally break, the squad got separated while Ulin dragged a half-conscious and bleeding Yana back to the third and final trench where the medicae adepts were housed. They lost three Chimeras and dozens of soldiers to retake the two trenches and while the last Orks were cut down by the troopers and another PDF company appeared on the horizon to reinforce the faltering line, the sergeant found the scorched torso of trooper Varana, she only recognized her subordinate because of the dog tags. Two hours later she heard that Yana had bled to death back in the rear trench.

Banishing idle thoughts aside she hit another hulking armored Ork in the shoulder, to no effect. Frakk, she thought, that one will need more firepower to bring down. Acting fast she turned to the heavy bolter team on her left and shouted with all the strength she could muster:

"GUNNER! FOCUS YOUR FIRE ON THAT BIG ARMORED SON OF A BITCH!" And for once the PDF grunts obeyed without question and immediately targeted the larger Ork, only to miss the first shots (still shredding other Greenskins however). Cursing the PDF's lack of accuracy Ulin tried to hit without success to hit a weak spot in the Ork's improvised armor. After seeing four laser beams connect with no avail the PDF heavy bolter finally got the aim right and chunks of the armor started to fly off and soon the explosive bolter rounds started to hit the green flesh utterly annihilating the left shoulder and the head of the Ork in a matter of seconds.

Ducking down and leaning on the flak boards she started to reload her lasgun she noticed that Rajiv wasn't by her side blowing up Ork limbs with a lasgun. Looking further down into the trench she saw the last member of her squad laying in a pool of mud and blood with a bolt round wound in her chest, a PDF trooper fell nearby with his head destroyed by a bolter round but she didn't paid attention to him.

Thinking about how she failed her squadmates would do no good now and with that in mind the quickly finished reloading and stood up once again fired at the charging mob of Greenskins. While she did her best to save ammo and shoot where it would kill them faster, Ulin noticed that they were getting closer. Where one fell the next one would manage to run a few more meters before being killed. Soon they would get close enough for the captain would order them to unleash a barrage of flamers and grenades. She instinctively nudged the half-empty grenade launcher with her boot, another consequence of their shifty supply situation.

"They've got close enough!Grenades and flamers now!" Captain Inessa ordered through the comm-bead. The sergeant immediately dropped on a knee to grab the launcher, she smiled slightly when aimed, pressed the trigger and saw the grenade making its way to the middle of the mob before exploding. A few meters to his left another trooper was torching the Orks and this glorious scene was repeating all over the sector and maybe beyond. Ulin had absolutely no idea of what was happening beyond her own corner of the middle line, as far as she knew the whole line could be collapsing right now, the captain wouldn't speak a word about it and Vox-sets were becoming more and more rare as the days passed. But then again, if that was the case what else could she do besides keep firing at anything green on the horizon and hope that it will be enough to earn her a place besides the Immortal Emperor? Not much difference from what she was doing now anyway.

She fired another grenade aimed at a cluster of Orks who had yet to be purged before her comm-bead gained life again with captain Inessa announcing that the Chimeras had arrived with much needed supplies. Thankfully, the Ork attack was also faltering as the artillery batteries from the Hive finally decided to pay attention to their little corner of hell. Maybe she would be lucky enough to get some more combat stimms, even recaff would serve right now. She had been running on that stuff for the last five days and it was just enough to keep her awake and shooting but not take away the fatigue.

* * *

**Several kilometers east of Hive Plyubs - Seven days after the initial Ork assault**

Inside her command Chimera, colonel Jugurtha reviewed the last reports from the Hive, the usual stuff: The Orks pressed their attack, broke through a few sectors but were eventually contained at heavy cost to the Imperial defenders. The siege of the Hive had turned into an attrition battle and she had no doubts that if left that way the Orks would eventually triumph. After all, they were the ones receiving constant reinforcements from their main horde assaulting the Sclaffenatus Line.

And if there was one thing that Jugurtha tried to avoid just as much as the insidious taint of Chaos was a protracted attrition battle. The entire military doctrine of the Janissaries Mechanized regiments hailed mobility and overwhelming application of force on a single point of the enemy line to open breaches and enable pocketing the enemy as the way to victory. They were not suited for protracted attrition and immobile battles where their skills would be wasted. The casualties reports coming from the Hive further testified that, 5th Company, that had been forced to deploy it's entire effective strength to hold the trenches had already suffered nearly 40% casualties among killed and wounded.

In a few hours the assembled artillery of four PDF regiments would start the barrage and the so-called "6th Field Army", consisting of the remaining three companies of the 644th, four of the best Schwezen PDF regiments (not that it meant much) and a company of the 927th Armageddon Steel Legion, would start the counter-attack against the Ork forces assaulting Plyubs Hive. The basic plan was to use the PDF as a distraction to hit the Ork flank while the Guard mechanized forces would maneuver behind the Greenskin horde and finish the encirclement. Of course, things would be much easier if the Sclaffenatus Line wasn't threatening to break apart, eating up any more reserves and forcing them to start the operation before the PDF could fully organize, not that it would make much difference considering their display of military efficiency so far.

But then again, complaining wouldn't do any good now. The forces she had so far would have to be enough to save the Hive, and after that there had to be enough troops left to reinforce the Sclaffenatus Line in preparation for the first major Imperial offensive of the conflict. In her opinion that plan was just wishful thinking, they would need more troops to take back the planet, more Guard regiments to counterbalance the incompetence of the local troops. But she also knew that there were no more troops to be spared, the Crusade's armies were stretched thin and Warmaster Buratin would hardly divert more troops from his offensives. From her point of view, unless the Emperor granted his loyal servants on Schwezen some sort of miracle the conflict was bound to drag on for a few years at least.

"This is going to be hard..."Jugurtha said to himself, loud enough to catch the attention of her comm-officer on the other side of the Chimera

"Said anything colonel?" She asked looking up from the Vox-set.

"Just running some numbers." Jugurtha replied quickly. The troopers were already apprehensive about fighting Orks again, even more now that the inevitable rumors about the situation at the Hive started circulating, they didn't needed a new one about how even the colonel herself was having doubts about the upcoming offensive. Nothing could go wrong, the 6th Army would drive back the Orks and relieve Plyubs and the rest of the 644th, the Colonel didn't even dared to think of what would happen if things went wrong

* * *

I don't onw Warhammer 40k or anything else (maybe the OC regiments depending on your point of view).

Once again reviews and suggestionsare appreciated.


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